


The Legend of Zelda; Majora's Mask

by Shayzy



Category: Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2014-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-13 22:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1243444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shayzy/pseuds/Shayzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of the most unique Zelda games, with beautiful, terrifying, and emotionally moving imagery, told through the eyes of those who watched Link travel through the strange world of Termina. Watch the tortured and lost souls of Termina fall into decay when Link isn't there to save them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Salesman

**Author's Note:**

> New Chapter every other Monday.

My breath puffed out in thin, white streams as I watched quietly. At last, after all the seemingly endless searching; it was him! That cursed imp! The one who would doom us all in his ignorance; the one who had stolen my precious mask! For longer than I cared to think on, I had wandered these woods in search of this thief. I was starving, dirty, and near death; but the angry pangs that bombarded my stomach, and the deep bags under my eyes were long forgotten to me now. All that mattered was that I’d finally found him. After such a long and horrible trial, there he was, in front of me! When I had first set out after him, I had tried tracking the imp, but his steps left no footprints, and his presence stirred these woods in all but a physical way. He left no trace. Without any clear path, I had wandered aimlessly, consumed with anguish and desperation for ages. That mask had cost me dearly - more than I thought I had been willing to pay. When I first set my eyes upon it, however, I knew I would pay much more than I would ever have to give. That mask was my responsibility, and I had to get it back… even if I ended up paying with my life.

I looked ahead of me wearily. The trees stretched on as far as I could see, and of course, there was no sign of the one I sought. At first, I had followed in the general direction the imp had scampered off in, but when I realized there were no tracks to follow, I stooped down and dug into the large travel pack I kept slung on my back. It was well stocked; a rolled up mat for sleeping, provisions for eating and drinking, medicinal herbs, and extra clothes. Aside from the mat, which was rolled on top and carried separately, these things were shoved somewhat haphazardly away from everything else in my pack. The other items were, of course, much more valuable; gathered over years of collection, and protected with great care. Carefully laid out into neat rows, and taking up most of the space in my packs, were a collection of many masks, in all manner of shapes, sizes, colours and patterns. I dug through these carefully and pulled out a white, triangular mask with a large, hollowed, red-rimmed eye with a great golden pupil in the centre. A hollowed out mouth, also rimmed in red, smiled at me eerily. I set the bag aside and slipped the mask over my face and stood as sturdily as I could. Upon the instant the mask covered my face, my vision went completely black. Despite the hollowed out eye, I could see nothing save a vast, empty expanse of darkness. The Mask of Truth, as it was called, forced the wearer to see the truth, and so barred any sight that was not completely ‘true’. Passed down by the Sheikah people, this mask was said to see into people’s minds and hear their thoughts as well. No matter who’s hand it turned to, however, no one could see anything when putting it on except darkness, let alone hear the thoughts of others. It had been easy for me to obtain, as no one really wanted it after most had accepted it was impossible to use. Rumours spread that only one who’s heart was completely unbound by human bias, and who always saw things as they were – plain and true – could see when they put the mask on, and use it to hear other people’s hidden thoughts. While I myself was a good man, or at least tried my best to be, I could in no way claim that I had always seen things plain and true the way they were. Human emotion was a powerful thing, that could sway even the most rational man to believe a lie, and so, when placing the mask upon my face, I could see nothing. However, through my many years of research, and from a very interesting conversation I had once had with a Sheikah woman, I learned something that made this mask useful to none but me.

I whispered softly into the chilly morning, “Though I know I cannot see; I would know Sight through the Eyes of Truth.” At first, nothing happened. Slowly, however, light came into my eyes and I could see through the darkness the mask held over me and into the land before me. Truly, this was a frightening mask. I could see things that no human eye ever could. Creatures, whose features seemed impossible, slid by on strange appendages that looked like they couldn’t support any living creature; let alone these misshapen things. Smoke and clouds drifted by in ethereal dances that numbed the senses, glowing lights in impossible colours blinked in and out of sight, and other worldly sounds filled the air, filling my ears, and then a piercing silence would creep in and nearly rob me of all my sanity. This mask could see the ultimate truth, even if that truth was something no one wanted to see. A voice, deep and thunderous, whispered into my ear.

“You come again, Mask Man…” the sound was old, cracking with age, yet full of absolute surety in all things; something that could only come with being ancient. It echoed through my body, deep and powerful, and left me feeling hollow and frail. Truly, this was a frightening mask…

“I would know the Truth,” I said quietly. I knelt in the soft grass below my feet, and bowed deeply to the invisible force. Small translucent creatures appeared from beneath the grass and began crawling over my legs, slithering and waddling and hobbling in their strange way. Sometimes, it almost seemed like a dance. Everything through these eyes seemed that way, sometimes; the great dance of Truth.

“…You knew the Truth before, Mask Man,” the voice spoke slowly, “It led you to what you sought with a great urgency in your heart. I had believed the finding of this Truth would have kept you from my Sight for some time, but… I feel now an urgency in you greater than last we spoke,” the voice made a great sound, like the clamour of deep drums and rushing winds. I could only equate it to a sigh; with great difficulty.

“I would see what Truth you had led me to before. Where is my Mask… where is Majora?” I asked in a hushed tone, trying desperately to keep the erratic edge out of my voice.

“YOUR mask…” a clamouring sound filled my ears. A laugh, I supposed, “You amuse me, Mask Man… though, I am disappointed in you. Even with my Sight, you do not see. Look before you, Mask Man.” The voice cracked sharply on my name. I lifted my head and began to look around. I realized with a slight lump in my throat that the voice was right; I had not seen. There were strange creatures and lights, smoke and sounds, clouds and all manner of strange things as there had always been when I put on the Mask of Truth. Yet when I looked again, I noticed the colour of the sky; a dark, bruised purple. There were low whispers pervading the air; angry, sharp tones filled with fear. Shadows passed, writhing like snakes, twisting as though trying to escape some great pain. Moans echoed through the trees, lamenting and sighing. And a thick, dark grey fog filled the forest as though to choke out all the air. No, I had not seen.

“…What does this mean? Can the Master of Sight not see?” I asked. I forgot myself in a moment of sardonic humour. A deep sound like the crashing of great thunder filled my ears and made my body tremble, almost to the point of collapsing, and I remembered myself.

“I can See, Mask Man…” the voice continued calmly but firmly, “But… choose not to. It is not in my ‘interest’,” a clamouring, as before, followed this, “Tick, tock, tick, tock, the great clock chimes… you would be wise to heed its message, ye who would mask the world. Tick… tock…” the last words vibrated through my bones, as though a great clock _were_ ticking all around me.

“Wait… you choose not to?” I became frantic as the words sunk in, “But… but you have to help me! I need to see!” all of my composure was forgotten, and I began to yell, “Tell me! This is something I must know; where is my mask!? Where is Majora!?” A clamour again, and then the voice began to whisper, “Tick…tock…tick…tock…”

“Why will you not tell me? You have never led me astray before, why now? Please, answer me, though I know I cannot see; I would know Sight through the Eyes of Truth!” repeating the ancient words did nothing, the great voice continued to clamour and whisper, “Tick…tock…tick…tock…” I became desperate, repeating the words again and again, and again the voice said nothing and continued repeating its slow chant, ‘tick…tock…tick…tock.’ I knelt there in the grass, listening to his mocking chant, completely dumbfounded and speechless. Never had I felt so lost; so out of control. Why would he not answer? Why now, when my need was greatest? Was it this accursed forest? I looked around; everything about this place felt off. It was as though the air was stale with dust, and the ground seemed too hard to sustain such large trees and supple grass. Even the trees seemed strange, they grew almost no leaves despite how lush the ground was. Short, barren branches jutted from the sides, and not one tree leaned quite the same way as the other, never standing tall or straight, always just slightly askew; _off_. Yes, this wood was considered cursed by most. Not many came here unless of great need, like myself. People _felt_ things when they came here, like their energy was being sucked away from them, or that the forest led them places they had not meant to go. People believed this forest was alive, but not many spoke about it aloud; it was considered bad luck. Being here, I did feel sort of strained, like my arms had become heavier and my movements more clumsy. And the air certainly didn’t feel friendly; everything about this forest seemed to want to strangle you. At times, it felt like the wind blew in such a way as to tug me from where I was heading. Clearly, the rumours about this place were not ill-placed… however, that did not explain why the Mask of Truth would not provide me with a direction; I had been in this place before, and much more cursed places – places no man had dared to tread in centuries – and still the mask had always served me well. I felt anger begin to bubble inside me. I felt cheated, betrayed, but most of all… terrified at what I did not understand.

“Tick…tock…tick…to-” I tore off the mask and threw it to the ground in frustration. Everything around me spun for a moment as my eyes adjusted to the light; they had been barred from sight the whole time. Once the world settled, I looked at the mask, “Tick…tock…tick…tock…” even though I’d thrown the mask off, it was as though I could still hear the voice whispering from it. I grabbed it and quickly tucked it carefully away in my bag among the other masks. I got up off my knees slowly, lifted my bag and slung it back over my shoulders, and looked ahead. There were no more strange creatures, no lights, no dancing shadows. Everything was back to human sight. I looked up; the sky was the same pale grey colour it had been when I first set out after the imp. The air around me had become slightly foggy. I heaved a sigh. Without direction – a condition I was entirely unused to – I decided all I could do was continue to head forward, in the generic direction the imp had run off in… not much of a plan, but I had no other. I sighed again, angrily this time, and began to slowly head off between the trees, in what I thought was the most accurate direction. I walked for some time, perhaps days, even. Time seemed to pass slowly here, as though the sun lazily crawled across the sky and the wind blew slow and soft across my skin. I knew I was hungry by the way my stomach growled fiercely, but I had a very limited supply of food, and besides that, I barely noticed anyway. My mind was a slew of fear and anger, desperation, anxiety, depression, and all sorts of fun things like that. I stopped only when my legs would not carry me any longer or nature called me. I didn’t know where I was going, or how long it would take me to get there, or if there even was an end to where I was going. I ate once a day, or at least what felt like a day; a small handful of baked crackers and some dried beef I’d had a friend of mine cure for me. I drank from a small canteen when I became parched, - and thankfully, that was the one thing I had plenty of in my bag - and filled any empty canteens I had when I came across a stream; though there didn’t appear to be an abundance of water in this forest. I walked ever forward, each step setting me in a more and more foul state of mind. Occasionally, I would stoop down and attempt using the Mask of Truth again, but each time I did, all I was met with was “Tick…tock…tick…tock…” and eventually I gave up on that venture all together. Clearly, that mask would be of no help. I had enough food to last me a month or so, if I kept rationing it so strictly the way I was, but eventually it would run out, and then I would be in trouble. I was already running thin if I was planning a return journey, which truthfully I wasn’t. Finding the mask again consumed me; it was all that mattered. I would worry about those other details once I had it back. Though I was slight, I had knowledge of many plants that were edible, and I could even attempt hunting if it came to it. Thankfully, being as slim as I was, I didn’t need to eat much to keep me going, so I decided to put all thoughts of food out of my mind and just focus on the task at hand, which was truthfully not hard at all.

Much time had passed. I ate, answered nature’s call, walked, drank, and even slept sometimes when my body forced me to. Only for a few hours though. This cycle repeated itself for a very long time. I no longer attempted to walk perfectly straight anymore; it was, after all, highly unlikely that the imp had gone in the same direction for as long as I had been walking. I simply wandered aimlessly, caring only about finding my mask… I had run out of food some time ago. I had managed to stay alive on some plants and herbs I had deemed safe, but even for someone as slight as I was, this was not enough to last. The large bag slung to my back grew heavier with each step. Still, I pressed on, searching, wandering like so many spirits do in this wood for something that’s been lost. I began to feel like a spirit myself. Every time the wind blew, it felt like it carried me somewhat, as though I really was made of air. I found it strange that wind blew here at all, the trees seemed much too thick… but so much was strange about these woods, I didn’t pay it much mind. I began to feel myself slip away somewhat… there were times when I would find my eyes shutting for just a moment, and opening them to find my legs ached like they had been walking for days. I knew I was reaching my limit; but still I walked. I needed my mask… I needed my mask… I needed my mask… the thought echoed in my mind, spurring me on, probably the only thing keeping my frail body going.

It was a pale grey morning, much too early for the sun to have risen, when my legs finally decided to quit. I collapsed, falling hard to my knees. My bag slipped off my back and rolled lazily away from me until it came to a dull stop, and, eventually, until my face was flat against the soft grass. I stared ahead of me into the forest, seemingly no end in sight to all the trees and grass and pale fog… a never ending dream. I thought bitterly of my fate. Would I continue to wander these woods when my body was long gone; always in search of that which had become most precious to me? Forever doomed to lament over my sad end, thinking of nothing but the search that had consumed me. How long had I walked? Ah, what did it matter now…? I had failed. For a moment, I thought I saw a small twinkle of light above and a little ahead of where I lay, but I assumed I was just going delirious from exhaustion. The last thing in Hyrule I trusted now was my senses. I lay there for who knows how long, a year; a minute? I thought of the imp, of what I would say if I ever saw him again… but then again, the world might have fallen to ash by then. Ah, life can be so cruel. I sighed. The sound that came out was more of a cracked whistle though. I had run out of water a while ago as well, unable to find a new source of water among this never ending forest.

 _Neeiiighhh!!_ “Waaahhh! Euuuhhh……” A horse whinnied loudly, and a small voice cried out. What? I managed to lift my eyes and squint at what was ahead of me. A tree stood directly in my line of sight. With all the strength left in me, I pulled myself up to a half-sitting position and dragged myself behind the tree, peering around it. My legs couldn’t carry me, but my arms still had some strength left. What I saw was a small, red-brown horse - merely a baby, and a female at that - looking frantic and confused, pattering this way and that and snorting, shaking its tiny white mane. A small, blonde boy lay on the ground behind the horse, wearing an all-green tunic and small brown boots. He appeared to still be breathing. Clearly, the horse had been spooked and had flung away her tiny rider. I checked to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me… yes; the boy had a large, Hylian shield hung on his back, and a small sword… by the looks of it, Kokiri made. What was a Kokiri boy doing so far away from his forest; and with a sword and shield, no less? I understood that Kokiri did not last long away from their home. The horse appeared to settle down when it decided no more surprises were in store for it, and waited patiently for its master to wake. I saw two fairies floating quietly above the horse’s mane, one a dark purple and the other white. Not an altogether strange sight, seeing that this boy was clearly Kokiri. But I wondered if having two fairies was normal for a Kokiri child? I thought I recalled that only one fairy came to a Kokiri when he or she was born, but then, what did I know? No one had ever ventured into the Kokiri Forest except the Kokiri… and of course, the Hero of Time… but seldom few knew the full extent of that tale, save myself and some exceptional others.

 Suddenly, the air grew thick and heavy. My eyes instinctively looked to the left; there… I saw him. For a moment, I truly believed I had gone mad, but when he didn’t disappear, I felt my body reach its second wind and I sat up, completely erect. It was _him_! The imp! He had seemed to appear from nowhere. He stood no taller than a small child, maybe three or four feet in height. On his head was what looked like a farmer’s hat made of red straw, decorated with a chain of gold rings. He wore a large grass necklace, and a red shirt, belted by a similar chain of gold rings around the waist. He had straw, fingerless gloves and shorts, and his shoes were red and pointed up at the tip, with gold rings for buckles. His head was small and round, and appeared to be made of straw, his eyes were beady, bright red dots, and his mouth was a small yellow beak. I had never felt such elation in all my life. I nearly jumped up and ran to that cursed little monster, but with all my strength, I lay low and watched. I may have been dying, my mask may have been no less than five meters ahead of me, but I was no fool. I would watch and see what would unfold before me, until the time was right.

I felt my hackles rise when I realized the imp was _wearing_ the mask… surely it shouldn’t surprise me, Majora’s Mask held immense power, even one such as this creature should know that. Anyone fool enough to steal it would have no qualms about using its power for themselves, but seeing it was still enough to set me on edge in the worst way. Still, I watched quietly, though all my muscles struggled against it. This horrid little fool would doom us all! Suddenly, the fairies fluttered over to where the imp appeared.

The imp raised his mask to survey the scene and let out a high pitched cackle, “You two fairies did great!” I squinted in confusion. The fairies had scared the horse? The imp continued, “I wonder if he has anything good on him…” I felt my cheeks go red. So he was still thieving, eh? Again, this should have been no surprise, but my heart truly went out to the child lying still in the grass. I heard a whisper from one of the fairies, it was too low to make out, but I could tell it was coming from the white one. The imp looked mildly surprised, “Huh? This guy…” he paused for a moment, “…Well, that shouldn’t be a problem.” The imp replaced his mask and began scampering slowly forward, stopping short for an instant, then closing the distance. The fairies rushed over. The imp stood over the small figure and began nudging him with his foot, eventually turning the boy onto his back. Witnessing this and doing nothing made me feel dirty, especially after what had been done to me, but I was in no shape to take on anyone right now, not even such a small imp. Besides, even if I was at full strength, he had Majora… no one was a match for him right now. The imp bent over and began rummaging through the small boy’s belt. I felt blood rushing from my cheeks into my ears and neck. Thief… The imp stood slowly and turned towards where I sat with a small blue shape in his hands.

The purple fairy spoke, its voice high with excitement, “Ooh! Ooh! What a pretty ocarina… Hey, Skull Kid, lemme touch it! I wanna see!” It was difficult to tell with fairies, but I was pretty sure that one was a boy. I squinted at the blue object in the imp’s hands - the ‘Skull Kid,’ as the purple fairy had called him - and examined it as best I could. The shape and colour… my eyes went wide, and I restrained a loud gasp. There was only one ocarina in Hyrule with that colour and sheen… I noticed the small silver band around the mouthpiece. A small, golden insignia glinted against the silver in the pale morning fog. There was no doubt… the Ocarina of Time! How had this child come to possess such a…?! I thought for a moment… green tunic, Kokiri child, fairy-less… my heart stopped. It… it couldn’t be… it was him… it was… The Hero of Time… The Hero of Time!

Fate was truly a magnificent thing. I suddenly felt a new kind of rage as I watched the unworthy Skull Kid put his lips to such a precious thing. Though, he seemed to have a knack for tainting precious things. He blew random notes, giggling like an idiot as he did. Suddenly, the white fairy spoke up in response to the purple fairy, bonking the little thing on his head. I believed this fairy was a girl.

“You can’t, Tael! What would we do if you dropped it and broke it? No way! You can’t touch it!!!” I thought of the little purple fairy - Tael - trying to pick up the ocarina with… did fairies even have hands? I supposed they must have… but surely not big enough to lift a thing nearly its own size! I felt grateful to the white fairy’s insistence. ‘Tael’ seemed to droop slightly, “…Aw, but sis… W-Why can’t I try it out too?”

At that moment, the small boy stirred. He sat up suddenly, put his hand to his head and shook it to collect his senses. The Skull Kid had his back turned, busily messing with the ocarina he had stolen, not noticing a thing. The boy turned and saw the Skull Kid with his ocarina. The boy’s eyes narrowed. He stood up and stared daggers into the Skull Kid’s back. The Skull Kid continued to busy himself away with the ocarina, still noticing nothing. I couldn’t help but smile. The fairies turned and noticed the boy, jumping and crying out with alarm. The Skull Kid stopped playing with the ocarina, dropped it to his side and turned slowly. The sight of the glaring boy made him yelp, jump, look to his sides guiltily, and hide the ocarina behind his back… that wasn’t going to work. I couldn’t help but admire the boy’s courage, there was such ferocity in his eyes.

The boy took a steady step back… then leapt forward suddenly in an attempt to grab the Skull Kid. In a motion that was unnaturally lithe, the Skull Kid leapt up and away, landing skillfully on the boy’s horse. The horse reared violently from the sudden change, and neighed in protest. The horse began to fly forward, the Skull Kid looking triumphant, but the boy leapt forward just in time to grab the Skull Kid’s ankle and held on for dear life as the horse began to crash through the forest at break neck pace. The little horse was faster than it looked.

I gasped in alarm. They were going to get away! With my new-found strength, I scurried over to where my bag had fallen, tore it open, and dug around frantically until I found it; a small yellow head-band with large, yellow bunny ears made of stiff cloth. They swung this way and that, like real bunny ears. I put the silly looking head-band on, closed up my bag, slung it over my back in a rush, and took off as fast as my legs would take me. I felt the magic of the head-band envelope me, and though the little horse was crashing through the trees in a panicked dash, I kept an even-paced distance just behind them, running amongst the thickest trees for good measure; though the way the two little figures were struggling, I doubted they would notice me even if I was astride of them. The horse galloped on for quite some distance, until she came to a little grove surrounded by wooden walls. They seemed to have occurred… naturally? A massive tree stump with a tunnel hollowed through its base stood at the mouth of the wooden wall, and a few, much smaller stumps were scattered in the centre of the ring of wood. The horse, seeing this dead-end, rounded one of the smaller tree stumps in a sharp turn to head toward the only way through; the tunnel. The sudden turn had the little hero, who had been clinging to the Skull Kid’s ankle for dear life, flung to the ground. He rolled into the grass to a harsh stop, and the Skull Kid let out a high-pitched, triumphant laugh as the horse carried him away. The boy got up in a hurry and ran after the Skull Kid, into the dark tunnel. I stopped inside the horse-shoe shaped, wooden formation and halted for a moment… The air was too thick here. Something was wrong… I turned to look where I had come from, only to find that the horse-shoe shaped walls were now a circled enclosure. My heart skipped a beat. There was no turning back. I shook my head and turned forward. This was no time to worry about turning back, the Skull Kid was within my grasp; I had to press forward! I quickly stooped down again, placing my bag in front of me and removing the head-band from my head. I rummaged through the bag, returning the head-band, and this time pulling out a plain, grey mask that looked like it was made of stone. I hurriedly put it on, closed my bag, slung it over my back, and ran after the little hero and the Skull Kid. Through the dark tunnel, I emerged into a strange area, a little space enclosed by more naturally-formed wooden walls and stumps that started small and got taller and wider going forward. They created a sort of stair case to a series of tall, shooting, mushroom-like plants that were an eerie, glowing, green colour. They were growing out of a wooden formed archway that led into the dark. I got there in time to see the boy rush through the archway as fast as his small legs would take him. I decided to follow his lead. I climbed the first wooden stumps and jumped awkwardly from them to the larger stumps that were spaced away from each other. With a great gasp of effort, I finally leapt up and onto the landing where the archway stood. I began to run forward, same as the child, when suddenly a voice halted me so suddenly, I almost fell on my face.

“Stop!” it thundered. I recognized the voice immediately. I bent down and pulled the bag off my back, once again opening it up and digging for the mask. Once I had it in my hands, I set the Stone Mask aside and placed the Mask of Truth over my face. I spoke the ancient words, “Though I know I cannot see; I would know Sight through the Eyes of Truth.” Immediately my eyes flooded with light, nearly blinding me, and I heard the voice rumble and whisper in my ear, “See the Truth…”

The world went dark.


	2. The Ranch Woman

The wind blew gently over the surrounding field, sending the grass into a lazy, swaying, dance across the ranch. I took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet morning air gratefully. The breeze tickled my nose and filled me with a sense of peace and calm; invigorating me for the morning slew of chores. The pinks and purples of the early morning sky swept across the plain, the sun having not yet crested over the horizon. I set down the heavy wooden bucket I had in one hand in the grass and the wooden stool I had in the other behind me. I placed my hand gently on the cow grazing calmly before me; her skin radiated heat where I touched it. I patted her, letting her short, soft, coat caress my skin. I turned, still patting her, and pulled the short wooden stool closer to me. I sat, pulling the heavy wooden bucket closer still; steamy water sloshed around inside, near boiling, and a clean rag hung off the side. I picked up the rag, gently patting the cow; a beautiful Romani breed, and dunked it in the water, letting it soak up a good deal before bringing it out and wringing it slightly in my now beet-red fist - not that the heat bothered me much, it hadn’t for a very long time. I began gently scrubbing and cleaning the udders of the cow. She was still and calm, as always, so very used to this process, as I also was, and I made sure I was thorough; not too rough, but not too gentle either. After all, she did need to be clean. After a few more dunks in the bucket to keep the rag fresh and hot, I decided she was clean and tossed the rag back in the bucket and moved it aside. The water had begun to cool a little and was no longer visibly steaming. I took a small dry rag that had been tucked under my apron and into my belt and began to thoroughly dry the udders, making sure not to miss a spot. When finished, I placed it on my lap, stopped patting the cow and grabbed a small bottle from a pouch sewn into the front of my dress - also under my apron - and uncorked it, pouring a small amount of cream into the palm of my hand. I rubbed it around the cow’s udders and bags generously, thinking of my father... it was an old family recipe, extremely natural, and like most of my family’s recipes, extremely secret. It kept my cows udders nice and moist though; they never cracked or got infected, and that was the most important thing to me. Once I finished, I dumped the remaining water from the bucket – “What a waste!” father would have cried – and dried it out with the rag on my lap. Once the bucket was dry, I put the somewhat damp rag back into my belt and readied the now-dry bucket underneath the cows hanging pink udders. There was no need to ready her bags for milking; all that washing had done that. I placed my left hand back on the cow to pat her again. I took the other and grabbed the top of one udder with my thumb and forefinger and squeezed, pulling just slightly. Milk came out in a thin, steady stream and poured into the bucket. The cow didn’t stir. “Good girl,” I praised, though it was a little silly since she never ever did. I took care that the milk didn’t go back up into the udder, though with little effort; I was an old hat at this now. It was my sister, Romani, who needed to be careful. If any of these cows got infected because she was being careless… ah, no reason to get cross for something she hadn’t even done. Relaxing into the habit of things, I dropped my other hand after a time and began to squeeze another udder in the same fashion, alternating between the two in a steady rhythmic way. The bucket slowly filled, a thin film of froth forming over the small pool of milk at the bottom of the bucket. As my hands worked, I began to think of my father, and what he would say of this silly tradition of mine. Surely he would laugh, after all, it would be much easier to take all the cows into the barn to milk them, not do the same silly thing every morning. He would worry probably, not wanting me to make more work for myself, but this was just how I needed to start my day since he… since father died. All the other cows would be taken to the barn to be milked, but this cow… no, she was my favourite of all our special Romani breed. She was my father’s favourite too. He never named her, and that had always bothered me. After he died, though, I just couldn’t name her. The thought of it was too painful. Every morning, though, I took her out at my favourite time of the day and milked her in the open field, where the air was fresh and cool and I felt like everything was the way it was supposed to be. Sometimes I could almost forget all our recent trouble… almost. My younger sister Romani would still be tucked away in bed and I wouldn’t have to worry about her for a few more precious hours. She was such a handful, though of course I loved her so. I even felt like dad might be just inside the barn, milking cows and readying himself for his side of the day’s chores… everything felt so much nicer this way. And that was why this was my morning tradition. Nothing could ruin this… not even… A flash of raven hair entered my mind. No! Not this morning, I have too much to… A strange sound erupted from behind me, like the crackling of a great thundercloud ringing with static. I shrieked instinctively and threw myself forward, knocking over the half-full bucket of milk into the grass. The cow mooed loudly and ran off in fear. On my hands and knees, I turned my head and saw… nothing. I hadn’t imagined it? There were clouds in the sky, sure, but they didn’t seem especially dark or thick, and the air didn’t feel damp. I looked to the road. A road ran straight through the middle of Romani Ranch, called Milk Road, the ranch itself surrounded by thick forest, fenced all around… to keep the cows in, obviously… I was near the gate welcoming one to Romani Ranch where Milk Road led out into the rest of Termina, our land and home. The hills rose into a pass here and curved beyond the gate and out of sight. I searched with my eyes to see if there was anything coming through the pass but I couldn’t… until… something fast, small, and brownish-red streaked through the pass and down the road like lightning. I gaped and reflexively ran over to the crazy-fast object with my arms out-spread. Why did I do that?! The thing streaked to a halt as I threw myself in front of it before it could whiz by; barely managing not to knock me over. As it drew itself up, I saw it was just a filly; a very pretty creature with reddish-brown hair and a shocking white mane. It was a young Clydesdale if I wasn’t missing my guess, though the hectic nature of things had me thinking pretty on-the-fly. I began to call, “Hoooo, girl! It’s okay! Hoo now!” the poor filly flung her rump and hooves wildy, fear and confusion in her eyes. I continued to call, bringing my arms out, calming her slowly but surely. She was a good girl, tamed already; thankfully. I was glad I didn’t need to resort to anything more drastic to calm her down, it would have really upset Romani if she had found out about anything… unsavoury. The filly slowly settled, however, doing any show-horse proud and eventually became calm as the gentle breeze. “What a fine horse…” I murmured… My heart was still racing and I patted the filly behind her ears which she allowed, though she did seem distracted, almost searching. Surely not for a rider… no, a child could ride this horse perhaps, but no child would have travelled this far on their own with such a small thing. It was fast though, I had to admit. I pat her neck for a while to calm myself, and once I had adequately caught my breath, I began to observe her closer. Her coat was sleek and shiny and she seemed to stand with almost a regal quality. She would grow into a true prize; that was assured. She must have come from town… but how in Termina had she come here? Perhaps that strange sound – I guess it must have been thunder – scared her from her owner? Oh, or it couldn’t belong to… Hmm. There was a ranch not far from ours, literally on the plot next to ours, which belonged to some folks called the Gorman Brothers… I had… suspicions, about them… but if that was their horse… well I couldn’t rightly keep what wasn’t mine. I supposed I would have to pay them a visit and ask. They would probably tell me it was theirs anyway; even if it was small, surely they wouldn’t be so daft as to not see its value. I had my ways to get the truth though. I looked at the pretty filly and then back behind my shoulder. A ways off sat the barn and the farmhouse, where Romani still slept peacefully. What a morning! Then I looked back to where I had been milking the cow, and the toppled bucket… I sighed. It really didn’t seem like a day for a storm… but, it was just another day, and like any other day, I could get through it. I was a Romani after all, and if there was one thing my father gave me, it was a never ending supply of tenacity. I decided to leave the bucket for now, and though I really did want to comfort my poor cow who had run off, a quick scan showed she hadn’t run far, and had gone back to calmly grazing. She would be fine for now. If any of the other cows dotted around the ranch had been spooked by the thunder, they weren’t showing it, they were all just milling about, grazing and otherwise acting normal. I sighed in relief. I decided dealing with this little horse sooner rather than later would be best, especially if it did belong to the Gorman Brothers. The less I had to do with them, the better. Giving the ranch one last inspection, I turned to the gate and tugged gently at the little horse’s neck, pulling her toward it, and down Milk Road toward the Gorman Brother’s Ranch. She walked beside me silently, only the sound of her little hooves gently clopping on the dirt road and my boots crunching the gravel beneath them as we passed under Romani Ranch’s welcome sign filling the silence. What a morning indeed… The path began to curve, and as it did, I felt myself begin to brim with hope despite everything. Yes, I was a Romani, a proud daughter of my father, a good sister, and a fair ranch owner. Things may have been rough lately, but no matter what, I had always faced them head on and with pride. And really, what was so bad? A silly wedding? A couple broken bottles? And some spilled milk this morning? To think, how silly was all that? Well today would be different, I wasn’t going to let anything get me down anymore, if this horse did belong to the Gorman Brother’s then it was out of my hair; if not, I’d let Romani keep it and raise it. It would teach her some responsibility and hopefully keep her company while I was busy, as I did so hate to leave her alone so much. Yes, everything was going to be different, and as the path finished its curve and straightened out, I firmly decided it was all going to be… A massive stone boulder blocked the path ahead, sealing Milk Road and making it impossible for any traffic to pass through. I dropped to my knees as soon as it came into sight and stared, mouth and eyes wide. Everything was not going to be okay.


	3. The Fairy Brother

I looked up at the Skull Kid, floating weightlessly, high above the scene. The dark-purple and red, heart-shaped mask with large, round, yellow eyes, green pupils and symmetrical spikes on its top and sides that never seemed to leave his face now, staring down below. Clouds drifted by lazily above in the cool morning air, and what might have been a nice, gentle breeze below, was a sharp and cold wind where we floated high above. The pinks and purples of the early morning sky swept across the plain, the sun having not yet crested over the horizon. I felt – not for the first time – unease start to set in to the pit of my stomach. This, like a lot of Skull Kid’s pranks, seemed like a little… too much. If he said it wasn’t though…

“There, now it’s her problem," Skull Kid chimed, "And, she won’t have to worry about those pesky Gorman Brothers breaking her milk bottles anymore. Aren’t I nice?” Skull Kid giggled through his mask, grabbing his stomach and bending over dramatically. I thought it sounded oddly humorless though, for some reason… perhaps I had just imagined it. Abruptly, he quit laughing and straightened up.

“What a dumb game _that_ was though…" he grunted slightly, "That horse wouldn’t even jump through those cool fire hoops I set up _just_ for it. So ungrateful," Rolling his head back as if ridding his mind of the whole thing, Skull Kid sighed, "Oh well... at least we still have that kid to play with. Sounds like it could be fun for a little while. Dontcha think Tatl?” Skull Kid looked over at my sister, Tatl. Her small, glowing white body floated just above to his right, while I was just a little ways off to his left, at his shoulder. It was too bright to see her actual body beneath, except for the pretty white wings that jutted out behind the little ball of brightness. Something about the way the Skull Kid glanced at her was odd, even behind his mask, but truthfully I’ve never been good with things like that, so maybe I was just seeing things. Tatl's glowing body pulsated slightly.

“Yeah, that could be fun,” she agreed. Skull Kid nodded approvingly.

“What about you Tael?" Skull Kid rounded on me, tilting his head, "Sound like fun to you?” I looked at Tatl, then back to the Skull Kid.

“Sure," I agreed, nodding, "Sounds like it could be lots of fun, if you guys think so,” I would do whatever they said, of course. They were my family. Even if Skull Kid had been acting… odd lately. I was probably just reading into things, though. They _were_ just harmless pranks after all. I was always being silly like that. That’s why I was lucky to have these two to look out for me.

“Heehee, he probably still thinks he’s falling," Skull Kid cut into my thoughts. He drew himself up into a sitting position, clutching his knees and rocking slightly. "That gateway is funny in its own way. He’ll fall forever if I let him. Hey!” he lifted his head, “We should be good citizens and lend him a hand right? It’s just what good citizens would do, and we are definitely good citizens. Right?” Skull Kid crossed his arms and nodded in self-affirmation.

“Right!” I answered.

“Right.” Tatl answered, a beat behind me.

“Right!” Skull Kid said with another giggle. Skull Kid straightened himself out and bent over to look beneath him, his hands on his hips in a satisfactory way. Some twenty or so meters below was a road that ran between two large plots of land, both which had belonged to enemy ranch owners. When Skull Kid had escaped with that green kid's horse, but hadn't gotten it to do exactly what he wanted, well, he had decided to take it to one of the ranches to get rid of it... but then he had also had an idea for a really good prank... “Did you see that lady’s face though?" Skull Kid's body continued to shake with mirth, "It was amazing! I wish I could have taken a pictograph,” then he started giggling hysterically, doubling over in the air. He looked so silly I started to feel better about the whole thing; no one _that_ jovial could be doing any real harm. It was just a big rock; it shouldn’t take more than a few days to clear. It _was_ kind of funny if you thought about it. I turned to Tatl, half expecting a good laugh about the whole thing, but was surprised to find her glow seemed dimmer, and her wings weren't fluttering quite as much as they usually did. The truth was, only fairies could see the bodies of other fairies past the glow that hid what was underneath, but I didn't need to see more than that to know something was up.

“Something wrong Tatl?” I asked. She looked at me then, and I reflexively swallowed a lump. She was angry. Hopefully not at me, she was so much scarier when she was angry at me.

“It’s just…," she started heatedly. I swallowed again, "Something about that kid!” she exclaimed, her glow flaring up suddenly, “I don’t know… he rubbed me the wrong way…” just as quickly, she dimmed again, “I don’t like him…” something in her voice sounded almost sad. I flew closer to her, concerned.

“Well maybe now…” I started, but Skull Kid flew between us and cut me off abruptly.

“Oh! Well then now will be your chance!" he shouted excitedly. He flipped upside down and hung there mid-air with his arms out-stretched between us. I jumped up in surprise, but Tatl didn't even flinch, "I’m gunna get him real good Tatl, you’ll see! And you know what? You should kick him while he’s down! Now doesn’t _that_ sound like fun?” He righted himself again with his arms still out-stretched. I moved around him and next to my sister again. I couldn’t see it, but I knew the Skull Kid’s beak had twisted into a large grin.

After a long pause, Tatl's body began to glow more brightly, and her wings fluttered with a little more virve, “Yeah…” she said slowly. “You know what? That sounds like a lot of fun,” and she smiled larger than I’d seen her smile in days.

In that disorienting, dizzy way that Skull Kid’s magic always left you feeling, suddenly we were all in the underground chamber beneath Clock Tower, in the center of Clock Town. It was hard for me to understand, but my sister had tried her best to explain this place to me, and a little about Skull Kid's magic. Here, in this special chamber in the middle of Termina, two worlds could be ‘bridged’ by special magic. Like a gateway. On our side was Termina, where the Four Giants slumbered (although you had to be careful not to say that name around Skull Kid) and Clock Town sat in the center of it all. On the other side was a mysterious place that we didn’t really know much about. We had visited it a bunch of times with Skull Kid’s magic, but we never went anywhere fun; we always stayed in the forests and played tricks on villagers and stuff. It wasn’t so bad, but it would have been nice to see if this other world had a Clock Town too. Tatl told me it was dangerous to mess with the other world too much, since there were different forces we didn’t understand on ‘their side’, but it still made me wonder whenever we went there. We really only went there because Skull Kid _could_ go there, and since he had been going there for such a long time. There was this one time though… well, we robbed this mask salesman… it was just a harmless prank at first, we were only gunna steal some carnival masks. After all, we couldn’t make any, so it wasn’t supposed to be vicious or anything… still, I always felt guilty about that; he had seemed so harmless after all. It left me with an icky feeling in my stomach whenever the thought invaded my mind. We had attacked him from behind, and he had stayed down long enough to search him… we found some papers on him that said the name of the land was Hyrule – although I was the only one that seemed to care about that – and we found some masks that could work as really cool carnival masks too… but then… Skull Kid found _that_ mask. Skull Kid said he _had_ to take that strange, heart-shaped mask; such a powerful and dangerous thing, a simple mask salesman would only get himself hurt with it. That did make sense, after all, that guy _had_ looked so frail, and Skull Kid had us, and his powers to protect, and use the mask properly. The man had come to then, and so we had had to leave, turning and running from the man as he had started to moan aloud. Since then though, I really didn’t like going back to ‘Hyrule’. It always felt like we were being followed… actually, more like we were being chased by some unseen shadow. We did go back though, and today, we had found that green kid…

Well, when that kid had chased us back here, to Termina, he had managed to slip into the gate behind us while it was still open, but got caught inside. Now he’s trapped, but to him it might not seem like any time has passed… or, an eternity has. Time is a funny thing when you travel between worlds. Thanks to my sis, I understood all that. Well, except the part about the Four Giants. Sis could be a bit thick sometimes, and she never listened very well to Skull Kid’s stories. Eventually, Skull Kid gave up trying to tell her any of his stories, and one day he told me who the ‘friends’ that abandoned him had been, and where they were. Sis seemed to think all that was important was that his friends _had_ abandoned him, and not who they were. Still, I did wish Tatl would listen a little better sometimes; she was so stubborn. Well, none of that mattered now. Skull Kid was getting ready to play a  new game with this green kid – another harmless prank I assured myself – and it sounded like it was gunna be something really funny this time too! The chamber we were in wasn’t so special really, just a little, underground, circular chamber with a big wooden door at one end and a small pool of water with a big pink deku flower at its center at the other. The door, like many in Termina, was enchanted to lift and open when approached by a person… though it seemed the magic needed a large enough body to detect there was a person there at all; fairies couldn’t open these doors by themselves. Right now, the chamber was dark, except for two torches lit on either side of the doorway, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Skull Kid flick his wrist and the ceiling grew darker as if opening into a chasm. The gateway was open.

Weird, chalky images began drifting out from above, in bright neoned colours. I had never seen those before in the gateway… they kinda looked like… masks? And then, suddenly, a young boy fell from the ceiling and landed aft-end first on the deku flower in the middle of the pool, sending up a small splash around him. Looking dazed for a moment, he stood abruptly and began to examine the flower he stood on. Silly, hadn’t he seen a deku flower before? Skull Kid didn’t give him a chance though. Suddenly two bright lights appeared from the middle of the chamber’s ceiling, like spotlights, illuminating Skull kid, Tatl and I. They had geometric shapes in different, bright colours swirling around in them like a carnival spotlight. We all floated in the middle of the room, staring down at the boy who was shielding his eyes from the sudden bright light. Skull Kid giggled, and the child dropped his hand, leveling a cold gaze directly into his eyes. The child wore odd clothes; a small green tunic belted around the middle, and a pointed green hat that fell behind his back. He wore plain leather boots, and a small sword was slung across his back. A large shield with a strange blue and red pattern was also hanging off his back, but I had never gotten a good look at what design it had been. The boy had a tousle of light-blonde hair, parted down the middle, sticking out of the front of his hat. His eyes though... they were an intense, icy blue. The way they stared at Skull Kid now seemed far too knowing for a child, and so full of... courage. Despite this, Skull Kid stared back just as levelly with the mask's round, yellow eyes. Though it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, I felt like this could have gone on for hours. Suddenly, Skull Kid grunted in aggitation, arms crossed and legs extended.

“What’s with the stupid horse of yours?!," he shouted angrily, "It doesn’t listen to a word that’s said to it…” he paused, seeming to savour something, “There’s no point in riding a thing like that, so I did you a favour and got rid of it… Hee, hee…” Upon hearing that, the boy’s eyes widened and he recoiled. He quickly regained composure, however, fixing those piercing blue eyes back on Skull Kid; though with visible effort. That didn’t matter to  Skull Kid.

“Aww, boo-hoo. Why the sad face?” He said mockingly, “I just thought I’d have a little fun with you…” something in the boy’s eyes gleaned then, like sharpened steel. Skull Kid caught the look and I could almost feel the annoyance radiate off of him, “Oh, come now…” he mused, “Do you really think you can beat me as I am now? Fool!” He said the last word suddenly and sharply. It took an effort for me not to jump. Abruptly, Skull Kid began shaking his head. Glowing, azure cracks appeared across his mask's surface, marring its already sinister appearance.. A sound filled the air, not very loud, but I could hear it resonating from the Skull Kid’s mask. It sounded like a dull, rythmic, crackling. The boy grabbed his ears as if in pain and then screamed… or it looked like he had, but no sound filled the air, save that strange crackling noise. What was happening? Then I blinked; and the boy was gone.

Where he had stood, an even smaller boy stood. Not a human boy. The shape before me looked like it had been crafted of wood. Its head was large and round, and about the height of its torso, which was, amazingly, slimmer than its head. The head itself had two, large, orange eyes that seemed eternally downcast in misery, and its mouth was a long, round protrusion that opened up where a normal mouth would have gone. The creature wore a large, pointed green hat, its point trailing down – almost dismally somehow – onto the deku flower below, as well as a pair of brown, leather, finger-less gauntlets, a plain green wrap around its waist, and a pair of brown, leather boots. The fingers that poked out of the gloves, and the hands they belonged to, were disproportionately large compared to the creatures thin arms, but next to its head, it was hard to tell. Its feet were similarily large compared to its thin legs. It could not have stood more than one hundred and twenty centimeters tall, and out of the front of its hat, a mess of light-blonde hair poked out and hung down the front of its forehead.

What stood before me was a deku child; and the most miserable looking deku child I had ever seen. Just looking into those depressed, down-cast eyes filled _me_ with the urge to weep in despair. Skull Kid leaned forward; there were no more cracks on his mask and that strange sound from before was gone. As if coming to, the deku boy touched his face. Slowly, he looked past the deku flower he stood on and into the pool below. He began to shake his head at his reflection, slowly at first, then more rapidly; and then he began to scream. It was a shrill, wavery sound that echoed off the walls of the chamber. Skull Kid threw himself back and cackled at the sound, the boy still shaking his head and staring at the pool of water, those miserable eyes full of disbelief.

"Hee, hee! Now that's a good look for you!" Skull Kid screeched gleefully, "You'll stay here looking that way forever!" his hand on his stomach, and still thrown back in delight, he was in absolute hysterics. I was in a daze. The child before me didn’t deserve this, I thought. Surely he didn’t do anything so bad to deserve this. My thoughts were echoing in my mind, as if someone else were having them. The next thought I had was almost a mockery, as I considered Skull Kid’s manic laughter; surely someone _that_ happy couldn't be doing any harm... right? The door behind us slid upward, and opened, and Skull Kid began floating back toward it, still lost in his mirth. I turned and nodded to Tatl reflexively, beckoning her to follow, and began following Skull Kid out of the chamber without looking back. I couldn't look back. Yes, of course... my thoughts continued to echo in my mind, before I could feel guilty about not helping the boy; almost manically. It was just a harmless prank. Those boy's large, orange eyes flashed in my head, so full of sorrow and hopelessness. My stomach lurched. Skull Kid wouldn't _really_ leave this kid here, my mind protested dully. I was beginning to feel somewhat numb. I mean, we always came here to use the gateway to the other world, so that would be silly, it continued. We'd have to let him out eventually. I was nearing the open door now... It was just a silly prank, the thought insisted. Skull Kid wouldn’t leave him in here, like this. _Tatl_ wouldn’t leave him here. Just a harmless little...

I passed under the doorway, leading into a large, wooden hallway. Skull Kid was still floating listfully backwards and cackling loudly, nearly out of sight now – not caring about anything in the whole world but his own elation – when I noticed... where was Tatl? I turned around and felt my heart fill up with lead. She was floating in front of the deku boy, no doubt teasing him like Skull Kid had suggested. Only now Skull Kid was gone, his laughter out of ear-shot, and the door...

"S...s...Sis!" I cried, as the door came crashing down before me. I hovered there, stunned. Wh... What? I thought. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. It was always sis who was there for me when I couldn't do anything right, and now she was there, and I was here, and I couldn't do anything... "SIS!" I screamed. I began to slam my body against the door. It was solid oak, and at least five times thicker than my whole body, if not more than that. I had hoped maybe the movement might activate the magic to open the door, or so I told myself later, but fairies were just too small, and the door never budged. What was I gunna do? Sis was trapped and the Skull Kid was... wait, Skull Kid! He could help me, I just had to catch up to him! I had been so panicked I hadn't even thought about it. This was why I needed Tatl in my life, this was why...

As I turned around to chase after Skull Kid, I yelped. Skull Kid was hovering right behind me, staring right at me with those round, yellow eyes.

"Oh! I'm sorry Skull Kid, I didn't mean to yell like that, but you have to help me, Tatl got trapped inside and we've gotta get her ou..." abruptly, Skull Kid reached out and grabbed me in his straw-like fist, and everything went dark.

A moment later, I felt dizzy, but I was released. We were in a beautiful chamber, circular, and held up by six, fluted, marble pillars. Water was cascading down the walls all around, filling a little pool in the center of the space, which dipped into a wide, round, shallow bowl in the area the pillars enclosed. It was a fountain, I realised. My eyes adjusted after being suddenly released and I noticed... there were no walls. Or a cieling. Water cascaded down, supported by nothing, and started from a source far in the distance above that I could not see. The space was eternally large, shrouded in darkness, but the fountain itself was contained inside a small pocket of this dark eternity. I turned, and behind us - in stark contrast - was a large hallway with a high, dirt cieling that led into more darkness; the entrance. The pillars before us had not held the ceiling like I had originally assumed, but instead, held an arch that started at the entrance and continued to stretch from pillar to pillar, until making its way back to the entrance in a great semi-circle. A statue of a cherub sat at the center of an arch in the middle of the six-pillar structure. The floor below was plain, tiled marble. Though water continued to pour down from above, the levels in the pool never seemed to rise or over-flow. Light seemed to spill from nowhere and everywhere all at once, filling the space with a pale-blue glow. It was so peaceful here. The thin wall of water cascading all around and rippling against the pool below sent a quiet hum throughout the room. This place, which I had now come to recognize, was sacred to my people; it and the four others just like it across Termina. I hadn't been here since I was born, and I hadn't thought to ever be back again. No one came here unless of great need. This ancient place, full of light, was the Great Fairy's Fountain, home to one of the five Mothers of my people.

I became suddenly aware of Skull Kid, hovering above the ground calmly to my right. His fists were now resting at his sides, as he stared straight ahead, into the heart of the fountain.

"Skull Kid..." I started. He turned to me so sharply then that I swallowed anything I had been about to say. The mask’s yellow eyes fixed on mine, and I wished I could sink into the floor. I knew only fairy's could see through another fairy's glow... I'd known that all my life. Right then and there though, I felt like it could have been Tatl's eyes full of hatred staring down at me, seeing everything I truly was. I knew I must have shivered visably. Skull Kid slowly turned away again, fixing the mask’s eyes back to the heart of the fountain.

"Great Fairy!" he suddenly cried. His voice was full of anguish and concern, "We've never met before, but I really need your help! Look, I’ve brought Tael with me! Please, you have to help us!" Skull Kid outstretched his hands, beseechingly. For a time, nothing happened. The air was still, save the gentle ripple of water hitting the pool's surface. Then, almost too faint for my eyes to have seen, a small glimmer appeared in the center of the pool. I thought I may have imagined it, until I saw a hand slowly appear from beneath the water's surface. Then another hand encircling that one appeared, and the two rose up and out of the water, slowly revealing two, slender arms. Eventually a head with hair as orange as the brightest dawn poked out of the water. The figure continued to wind its way up and out of the water until its whole body floated well above the water's surface, and it stopped, hovering in the air. The Great Fairy of Magic stared down at us, eyes full of grace and patience. Despite appearing from beneath the water, she was completely dry. Her hair was as long as she was tall, and flowed out behind her as if carried by some invisible breeze. It was split into three long parts, tied apart by vines. Her skin was pale, and shimmered as it caught the light. She was covered in vines and leaves that twined their way around her body; her arms, legs, working their way through her hair, and covering anything that might be considered indecent. The only item of clothing she wore was a pair of knee-high, brown, leather boots. She was extremely large, at least three hundred centimetres in height – probably taller – but she was also very shapely, having the bearings of any beautiful woman. She had bright, painted eyes; the colour of the dawn like her hair, and pink, shapely lips. A mole just on the right above her upper lip would seem to mar her image, but instead enhanced her beauty. She was a fairy far more powerful than a thousand fairies like me could ever hope to be; maybe even a million. And honestly, though the Skull Kid had become very powerful lately, there wasn't much doubt in my mind that he was no match for the Great Fairy. Let alone any of her sisters.

"Great Fairy..." Skull Kid breathed her name in relief, "Great Fairy, you have to help us! I know you don’t know me, but this isn’t about me. It’s about one of your fairy children, Tatl!"

The Great Fairy lifted her head in reaction to Tatl's name; the Great fairy knew the names of all her children, "Tatl? What has happened, child?" instead of letting him answer, however, she continued on, placing a hand on her cheek, "Hmm... no, I believe I do know of you child. I have been hearing unsavoury things about you little masked one... I do hope they are not true..." she paused and eyed him levelly. Skull Kid did not even blink. Or, I suppose I assumed he had not, given his mask.

"I don't know much about what people say here in town, Great Fairy. I fear the people here do not like me much, so I avoid the townsfolk to keep from upsetting them. Though, that's not really important right now. Please, one of your fairies is trapped with someone really dangerous; he is from a world apart from ours. Please, you have to help, she's one of your fairies, yes, but she's my friend too... she's... she's..." Skull Kid's words began to waver, and he started sniffling loudly, audibly attempting to contain himself. I looked over in shock. He really was worried; and scared too. How could I have been so blind? How could I have doubted him for even a second? We were _family_ after all, and he was just as scared as I was. The Great Fairy looked down at Skull Kid quietly for a moment, then lowered her hand from her cheek and spoke.

"Ah, but you are right, there is no time for dallying if one of my fairies is in trouble. You have done me a service by bringing this to my attention child. Thank you. Explain what has happened along the way, and I will do what I can to help. Come, lead me to Tatl," The Great Fairy slowly descended from where she hovered above the fountain, and as she did, she shrunk until she became the size of a normal woman. Skull Kid perked up, shaking his head gratefully, and turned to lead the way. I turned to follow.

"It's not far Great Fairy!” Skull Kid called back excitedly, “Thank you so much, I was so worried, but now everything will be okay!" Skull Kid drifted ahead buoyantly, as if he had just been handed the key to the world. I might have felt the same, if I didn't also feel so guilty for doubting him. Of course he had never meant to leave that kid there, or Tatl for that matter. Once again, I had just been being foolish, and it had only done to upset me. Well, the icky feeling in my stomach served me right. Though there was something that hadn’t stopped nagging at me since we left the chamber... like why Skull Kid hadn’t opened the door himself… but I was sure Skull Kid would explain everything once we got there. Doubting him had gotten me nowhere, he was family, and I had to remember that you had to trust family no matter what. The Great Fairy waded gracefully through the water before her and followed Skull Kid into the hall leading toward the exit. He looked back to make sure she was following, then floated on a little further. I kept up with Skull Kid and we reached the exit, and suddenly, the darkness became a glowing, pink-stained sky shining onto a large courtyard. Not paying the scenery much mind, I looked back; and into the gaping hole in the dirt wall I had just come out of. I squinted, and just inside, a shimmery image moved closer and closer to the exit. Skull Kid had stopped and was waiting beside me. Eventually the Great Fairy came through, the morning light dancing off her skin in a show of little pink diamonds. She looked to me, smiling warmly, and then… to the Skull Kid, her eyes growing wide. Wide? With… fear? She took a step back, and then made to run back toward the fountain. I looked at the Skull Kid, but he didn’t take chase or even call after. Instead, faster then I could make sense of anything, he cocked his head to the left… and that was all. Bright light filled my eyes to near blindness, and I flew back hitting the ground below with a dull thud. I sat there shaking, dazed and confused, for I don’t know how long. What… what had just happened? Why had the Great Fairy looked so afraid? What was that bright light? And… why did _I_ suddenly feel so afraid? Everything had happened too fast, nothing had made any sense. Finally, sight began to return to my eyes, and I looked up tentatively. The Great Fairy was gone; whether she was back in her fountain or… no, surely she had just run away, she couldn’t be… Skull Kid hovered right where he had before, head straight now. He was staring down at something. I followed his gaze. There, laying on the ground much like I was, was a small, orange fairy. Its head was large and round, clearly too large for the rest of its body, and its wings were attached to the very top of its head like some kind of… bad joke. Its eyes were closed slits and its lips were pouted, sort of like a baby. This creature was pathetic in every sense. A powerless fairy, if ever there was one. It emitted a glow, like any small fairy did, but not an altogether impressive one. A mortal could easily see through this one. What was a little thing like that doing here?

“Tch… Well, it’s not the result I’d hoped for,” Skull Kid said to no one, “To think, such a powerful being, reduced to such a stupid looking thing. I don’t know if you can really count yourself lucky that most of you escaped on this one ‘Great Fairy’.” Skull Kid began giggling softly, staring down at the small creature with utter stillness. No, I thought. It simply wasn’t true. Skull Kid wouldn’t. He wouldn’t take things so far. He wouldn’t abandon Tatl for this. He wouldn’t try to hurt… to do this to…

“Skull Kid…” I said, forgetting Skull Kid’s earlier reaction to my speaking without permission. Skull Kid didn’t move, however. He just hovered there. It was still early morning, and we were the only ones in the courtyard. I wondered about the guard who was supposed to be watching the town gate; I looked over to see him sleeping. No one but us and the silence of the early morning. Skull Kid glided over to the small fairy on the ground and scooped it up roughly in his fist. Then he was gone. Just as quickly, he returned, the fairy in his hand was gone.

“Skull Kid… what have you done… to the Great Fairy…?” I managed, through tense muscles.

“Don’t worry,” he said softly, a playful tone dripping sickeningly off his words, “She’s just off to play a game of hide-and-seek.”

Then we were somewhere else.

I looked around. I was still on the ground, but now it was the round, stone surface of the top of the Clock Tower. A large, stone structure that stood in the middle of Clock Town, it towered above the residents below, with a huge, wooden clock suspended off the side of the tower; facing Clock Town. It was really only ever accessed once a year; on the day of Clock Town’s annual carnival where the face of the clock would be flipped upward by the great gears inside the tower to make a surface to stand on, and the stairs to the top would be revealed. They would climb to the top of the tower wearing many different carnival masks and playing old songs, and they would pray to the Four Giants for a good harvest. Skull Kid liked to come up here sometimes, since it was so seldom used. Right now, the top was a large stone ball that rotated as the great clock on the tower ticked forward loudly. The surface slopped, but thankfully I was small enough, and the slope was slight enough, that I wasn’t sliding off any time soon.

“You know…” Skull Kid began. He was standing at the very center of the stone ball, facing away so that I couldn’t see that mask’s frightful eyes staring at me. Though the ball rotated slowly and I would eventually be facing him, Skull Kid’s body never moved. Unaffected by the rotating stone ball, he stared up at the sky motionlessly. He continued, his voice sounding almost sorrowful, “This mask here. Majora’s Mask is its name… it called to me… I followed its voice, and that’s when we found that mask salesman.” He was quiet for a time. I didn’t really know what to say to that. I didn’t really know what to say to any of this. He had betrayed us. He had betrayed everything I believed in, and I wanted to run away but… where would I go? I had to save Tatl, but I wasn’t strong enough. I wanted to leave the Skull Kid, I wanted to fight him but… I couldn’t save the Great Fairy. I couldn’t save anybody. What use was I to anyone? Why run? Why do anything? Skull Kid… how could you? We trusted you. We loved you. What have you done? What have you become? What do I do? Tatl…

“Majora… Majora accepts me for who I am you know. Majora won’t run from me, or abandon me. Majora likes my tricks. In fact, Majora wants me to play more tricks.” If there had been sorrow in his voice before, it was gone now. Now, Skull Kid turned to me, the full force of ‘Majora’s’ eyes on mine. I wanted to recoil away; I hated those eyes, “So,” Skull Kid said slowly, his body rotating slowly to follow mine, “What do you think Tael… sound like fun?” he tilted his head to the right, staring deep into my eyes. I was so frightened; I couldn’t breath, I couldn’t think. It was like he was boring into me and gouging out my soul. I wanted nothing more then to look away, but his sight pinned me there like an injured animal, and I was hopeless to resist. Finally, after what seemed an eternity in madness, he looked up and toward the sky again. I gasped audibly, inhaling sharply for the first time in what had seemed like years. I looked to the sky after I had caught my breath and saw it was one of those mornings where the moon was still lingering even though the sun was already poking its head above the horizon.

“Yes Tael, I agree, it does sound like fun,” Skull Kid went on, “We’re gunna stay together, like always, and play more fun games. And this is gunna be the first one we play together, just us. And you know what? Why should we be the only ones to play? Everyone should be allowed to play! That’s only fair, right?” I felt so sick, I worried I might retch. Skull Kid’s tone was so sickly sweet and twisted I felt it couldn’t be real, “I know!,” he went on, “Let’s play tag first. _You’re_ it!” He pointed in to the air with such glee, it was utterly mad. I looked up weakly, completely spent. Why was he pointing up at the sky?

My eyes grew wide. How had I not see it before? Had it been there all along? The moon, once our beautiful, pale moon, was now dark obsidian, with a grotesque, wide-eyed, grinning face on it. I gaped in astonishment. It wasn’t possible. Skull Kid never had this much power. How had he managed to do such a horrible thing to the moon? It was impossible!

“Tag!” Skull Kid cried, and he cackled, still pointing at that hideous moon, “Did’ja hear me? You’re it! Better get a move on! You seem pretty slow. If you wanna catch all of Clock Town you better hurry!” suddenly the earth began to rumble dully, and the moon appeared to grow larger. My eyes grew wide in terror. It was getting closer. To my great relief, the rumbling stopped abruptly then, and so did the growing moon.

“Aww, c’mon, you can do better than that!” Skull Kid called up to the moon, “Hey, you should get here in time for Clock Town’s carnival! Wouldn’t that be fun? Yeah, that’s a great idea! The carnival’s in three days, so you better hurry,” as if in answer, the earth rumbled dully once more, the moon grew, and then ceased as it had before. I stared at Skull Kid in horror and wonderment. He was going to kill us all. And himself. Why? Nothing felt real anymore. I thought I had understood Skull Kid’s loneliness. I thought we were the bandages that healed each other’s wounds. The Skull Kid that stood before now me was not the one I knew, though. This person was a ghost; a shadow I would never understand.

“Now… you know what we should do Tael?” Skull Kid turned back to me and levelled those horrible eyes on mine. There was no doubt in my mind anymore that he could fully see me, “We’re going to pay a visit to my old friends. See, they never liked my games much, and I really don’t want them to mess with my fun game of tag. What do you think?” despite his awful gaze, my eyes widened in surprise.

“The Four Giants…?” I began. Suddenly I was no longer on the floor, but instead was hovering in front of Skull Kid; long enough to feel the back of his hand sweep me back into the ground in one devestating motion. I crashed back to the stone surface with a loud thud and felt my wings fold painfully under me, coming to a sudden and full stop. I cried out in pain and confusion, unable to move my body after the initial blow.

“You KNOW not to say those words in front of me!” Skull Kid screamed. I grunted in pain, but Skull Kid took it as an affirmation, “Good,” he said, sounding satisfied, “You were never very smart, but if you behave, you might just be able to stick around for a while longer.” What he said should have made me angry, but instead I felt fear grip at my throat like a vice at the conotation of his words. If I didn’t obey; he was going to kill me. I was ashamed of my cowardice, but I didn’t know what else to do. It was even worse, now that I was broken and unmoving on the ground. I felt so small and weak. Smaller and weaker than I have ever felt in my entire life.

“Get up Tael. It’s time to go.” Though I could barely move, I forced my limbs to push my body up – fear was a powerful motivator – and then I concentrated my mind, relaxed, and used what little magic I had to heal myself enough to fly. I was still bruised and hurt, but nothing was broken, and I would live. I fluttered over to Skull Kid’s shoulder. The awful, disgusting part was, the motion still felt natural, despite my mind’s every wish to be elsewhere. Skull Kid looked to the south, his eyes piercing the horizon with some horrible knowledge in them. What his intention was, I really didn’t want to know.

Suddenly, Skull Kid stiffened. He turned, looking out of Clock Town, and set his gaze on the Astral Observatory just outside the town’s walls. A dome-shaped, blue building, covered in depictions of different constellations – so that the building looked like a little night sky of its own – sat at the edge of Termina Field; its back against a large hill that spanned a great distance. I quickly flew behind Skull Kid’s head, afraid of whatever it was that had alerted him. He stared at the great, silver, telescope that emerged from the top of the Observatory, its massive lens pointed directly at him. To my confusion, he seemed very calm suddenly, flicking his head back and forth, and looked up to the horrid moon, still facing the telescope. I looked up slowly, still hiding behind Skull Kid’s head. From the center of the moon’s large red eye, a shining blue shape appeared, surrounded by a bright orange flame. The object streaked down from the moon faster than my eyes could follow, and landed with a thunderous crash right in front of the Observatory. Skull Kid turned his back on the building, scratching himself in a mocking sort of way at the telescope – I kept myself out of sight of the telescope, still somewhat afraid – and then he leapt up so fast I yelped in surprise. He grabbed me in his fist on the way up, pulling me along with him. The wind rushed through Skull Kid’s fingers and by my face, and sunlight leaked in through his fingers as well, until… all went dark. Suddenly, I was released, and we were standing in front of a grassy pass that curved out of sight. A long, shaky breath escaped my lips, and wearily, I looked into the pass, no longer caring what I saw. I was entirely spent now; nothing made sense anymore, and nothing I did could change anything. I was just a rag doll, along for Skull Kid’s insane ride. I thought bleakly that by the end of all of this, I would likely be dead. Killed by Skull Kid himself, exhaustion, or by another one of Skull Kid’s ‘fun pranks’. I felt like crying, but my body was much too tired for that.

“Aww, don’t look so down Tael,” Skull Kid said suddenly, without ever having looked at me, “Don’t you like travelling?” as the early morning sun continued to climb higher in the sky, setting it just above the eastern horizon – although it felt like it had been years, not a few hours, since we had left the ranch with Skull Kid – flaming orange light spilled across the sky. An image of the Great Fairy appeared in my mind, the thought of her beautiful hair filling it like a flood, drowning me despite every effort to empty my mind of her. I felt like I might retch again. The orange light refracted off Majora’s Mask’s surface in strange angles, like a fun house mirror. Without waiting for an answer, that horrid mask turned to me, and tilted in what I could only surmise as amusement, and my stomach dropped to my feet.

“We’re going to visit the swamp.”


	4. Salesman II

I felt my knees aching against the hard earth below me. I wanted to cry… I wanted to run away and hide but I couldn’t… I wasn’t strong enough. He would kill us all. My one and only friend was going to destroy everything. He didn’t need us anymore. I started to wonder if he had ever really cared about us. My stomach was twisted in wretched knots, and my throat tasted of bile. Nothing was right anymore. How had things become so… wrong? If only you were here… if only the one person who could make things right were beside me, then everything would be okay. She could talk to him and set things straight, and maybe everything could go back to the way it was again. Maybe he was mad at us for something… maybe we did something to hurt him, and that was why he was doing these terrible things. Surely _she_ could make it right again, if anyone could. Thinking again, I grit my teeth reluctantly in anguish. No… not this. Not even she could fix this. My eyes strained to hold back tears I would not allow to fall. He had betrayed us, utterly and completely; there was no getting around that. Nothing we could have done could justify his actions. I was a coward, and I couldn’t do anything to stop him now, but she would have known what to do. If only it had been me instead of her… but then… she’d be here with him and he might have hurt her instead… no, it’s better this way. Surely she would have made that boy help her escape by now, and then she’d be free. She was so much smarter than I was. If I was ever going to see her again, then I would have to make sure she knew what was at stake. It wouldn’t be much, but it would be all that I could do. She couldn’t come with us; I would protect her even if it got me killed. I looked up, not really seeing anything. The tears I had tried so hard to hold back were stronger than my will to keep them in. I began to weep softly, careful not to make any noise so _he_ wouldn’t hear me. Bitter hate filled me, as I thought of how weak and pitiful I was. Hopelessness accompanied this, fuelling the quiet tears that ran down my cheeks. It wasn’t much, really it wasn’t, but it would be the one thing I would do to try and fight back. I hoped she would never find us; she was much safer as far from us as was physically possible… but if she did… I lifted my hands and wiped the tears from my face, and noticed with a dull surprise that they were shaking, and felt extremely heavy and weak at the same time. They trembled violently; almost like I hadn’t eaten in days. That didn’t matter now, however. The tears gone, I placed my palms on the ground and dug in with my nails. I was resolved. No matter how scared I was, the very least I could do was try to protect her. It would be the last good thing I would ever do. Her name danced through my head, then, like a sweet song, and I whispered it softly into the air, making sure I wouldn’t be heard.

“Tatl…” after a moment, I gave a start. The voice that had whispered her name was not my own, and yet… it was my own. I knew that voice, because it had always been my voice. I shook my head in confusion, suddenly feeling disoriented. Where was I again? I attempted to look around, but there was nothing to see… literally. Everything was black. I felt so strange; like my body was made of paper, and my head was filled with lead. Had I… died? I attempted to touch my eyes, to see if something was blocking them, but instead my fingers hit a hard surface just before they reached my face. A mask? I tried to pull it off, but something stayed my hand. This mask… it was important. I shook my head again. Why was it so hard to think? After a pause, I decided to remove the mask anyway, but before I could, a booming voice from seemingly everywhere filled my ears and I froze.

“Awaken, Mask Man. Remember who you are,” the voice crashed into me like a great wave and rocked me where I knelt. Wait… knelt? Well, of course, you must always kneel when speaking with the spirit of the Mask of Truth. My eyes widened. Yes… of course! Memories flashed rapidly through my mind and I began to recall who I was. To others, I was the Happy Mask Salesman. I was on an important journey, and then… someone stole something from me. Something more precious than all the rupees and all the power in the world. Immediately, everything became clearer.

“Majora!” I cried in shocked remembrance. Upon saying the name, I was able to see all around me again, though I recognized it to be the Mask of Truth’s vision. Just ahead of me, seeming pale and drained of colour, was a tunnel entranced by tall mushroom shoots. The tunnel led into complete darkness. That was where they had run off… the boy and that Skull Kid… ah! Skull Kid! That horrid little imp. I almost leaped up to give chase then and there, with no regard for anything else, but then a memory played into my head. It was the smiling image of a tiny white fairy; someone who was once very dear to me. Or who still was. I shook my head once more, trying to recall something that seemed distant. I had been kneeling here and… I had seen through eyes that were not mine. Not the Mask of Truth’s… or perhaps, the Mask of Truth had indeed shown me with its own sight the truth of others. The mask was _supposed_ to let you see into the hearts and minds of others; or so it was told. Had I witnessed just this?

I thought hard, concentrating. I had seen… a woman; working on a ranch. She was… such a sad woman… she fought so hard against the pain she felt each day. She was a hard working, and good woman, however. She didn’t deserve what had happened to her; first her father, dying tragically, and leaving her with the responsibility of raising her sister alone and running the family ranch. Then there were the vandals who had been breaking into her storehouse of late, and destroying her milk supply. She suspected the ranchers on the plot next to her; the ‘Gorman Brothers’, but she had no proof. Her sister had also been acting odd lately; something about “ghosts”. That memory was vague and ill-formed, though, as I couldn’t remember her actually having this thought tangibly during whatever vision I was recalling. I remembered there was something about a man, too… a man with raven hair. And a wedding… but for some reason, this memory was too painful to think on, and I couldn’t recall anything more. Then, there was that boulder… placed there… by Skull Kid. My brows furrowed, half in fury, half in despair. Tael… the fairy who’s eyes I had also seen through, flashed into my mind. I began to recall images of this second vision; the one I had just exited, and the one that had left me confused about my identity. Tael was still trapped with Skull Kid, I realized with a sinking feeling. My heart ached when I thought of him, so full of despair and self-doubt; he had more courage inside him than he could ever understand. It just needed a little time to show itself. After a time, I began to recall important details. I looked ahead of me then. This tunnel… if I followed it, it would take me to another world; a world called Termina. Unless, to my misfortune, the gate had been closed, in which case I’d be trapped inside like the little hero had been. I tried to remember, but I couldn’t recall Skull Kid closing the gateway in Tael’s memory. Hopefully, it would still be open. Even if I did get through though, it seemed this other world was doomed… all they had was three days. I thought of that giant moon, looming ominously over their world with that horrid, red-eyed, grin. I would die if I stayed any longer than that. As long as the gate stayed open, I could leave relatively easily, even if the gateway was on the ceiling of that underground chamber. I had many masks with all different manners of powers; and a few tricks all my own. The only problem would be the time. Even at full strength, I could never best Skull Kid as he was now. No manner of ‘trick’ was going to change that. I felt disheartened. I would give chase, and for what? How was I to get back Majora? After a moment of pause, I looked forward determinedly. It didn’t matter. I would go, and I would figure it out somehow. And even if I didn’t, I had to go anyway. I had already decided that my life was forfeit as soon as Majora’s Mask was in my hands. Nothing was more important then getting it back, safe and sound. I nodded slightly to myself, and attempted to stand.

The second wind that had carried me here was not only gone now, but in its wake I felt – for the first time since my strange visions had ended – a horrible, crippling nausea, a massive headache that shot through my brain like an arrow the moment I tried to stand, and a terrible, violent, trembling that gripped my whole body like a vice. Standing should have been nothing less than impossible. In my heart, I knew that I was dying. I did stand, however, using every scrap of willpower within me to hold myself erect. This was a pain I had never known; more intense and unbearable than I felt I should have been able to handle. Apparently, I was stronger than I gave myself credit for. I thought of a small, purple fairy. I realized with a start that I was still wearing the Mask of Truth. The mocking ‘tick, tock’ had ceased, and silence, save the sounds of the forest, reigned. I stood, recalling the visions, and the mask who had shown them to me… and the mask who had always shown me the way.

“Thank you,” I whispered. I wanted to kneel again, but I was near certain if I did, I would not be able to get back up. There was no obvious reply at first, but as I waited, I heard – as if far in the distance – a clamouring sound, like deep bells tolling in a high wind. I smiled, and took the mask off my face.

Suddenly, the world flooded with brilliant light and bright colours. I took a moment to let my eyes adjust, blinking rapidly and squinting in the harsh light, then prepared to set out. My bag sat on the ground to my left, and with some effort, I managed to place the Mask of Truth back inside and reach back in for the stone-faced mask I had been wearing earlier. Once on my face, the plain face of the Stone Mask enveloped me in its magic and made me appear no more interesting than a stone to most people who would have seen me. For all intents and purposes, I was invisible. I carefully slung my bag onto my back once more, feeling as though it weighed a ton now, and I looked into the dark before me. I noticed, with slight amusement, that it was barely dawn, and the light was dim and grey around me. The tall mushroom shoots that formed an arch on front of the tunnel were a bright green, however, and almost appeared to glow. I swallowed, staring into the darkness and facing complete uncertainty. With one last glance back from where I had come, I etched an image of my home, the land of Hyrule, permanently into my mind, and with a deep, shaky breath, took a step forward into the enveloping black.

Carefully, step by step, I inched my way through the darkness and squinted to try and help my eyes adjust as I went; which was especially hard with a mask over my face. However, there was simply darkness, no matter how much I squinted. My feet slowly inched ahead of me, shuffling along the earth and feeling out the ground below. I extended my arms to either side, letting the cold, earthy walls of the tunnel guide me forward. I continued this way for a few moments until abruptly one of my feet seemed to fall into nothingness. With a sharp gasp, I drew it back quickly and inched my foot forward once again, carefully feeling the edge of the earth as it gave way to a deep hole. My foot could not find the bottom. I withdrew my foot once more and leaned forward as far as I dared, squinting hard. I began to make out the edge of the ground and how it seemed to suddenly cut off and become a big, black, nothing. I swallowed. I was going to have to jump. Steeling myself, I sighed deeply, drew back slightly, and on a prayer to the Goddesses to ‘please let me not die doing this’, I leapt forward with all my might and felt that horrible, sinking feeling in my stomach as I fell through nothingness.

As I began to descend, strange, colourful and chalky images flew past me in a slow flurry. I was able to examine some, and to my surprise, I recognized some of them. They were images of masks, all in different shapes and colours. Time was beginning to feel gradually slower, and falling felt more like slowly sinking into some viscous liquid than plummeting through the air. I veered off to the right, sort of sinking into the spot as the mask images swirled around me and my body became subject to the will of the descent. I looked beneath me for an end, but saw only darkness and more mask images appear from below and then drift past me. My vision began to swirl then, sending everything into an odd sort of vertigo effect as the mask images around me appeared to spin rapidly all at once. I shut my eyes, starting to feel nauseous. Not a moment later and I felt my bottom hit the ground with a dull thud.

I opened my eyes; rubbing my bottom absent-mindedly, assured it was now bruised. All around me was the underground chamber that opened up beneath the gateway, shown to me in my vision. I had landed to the right of the pool of water where the little hero had landed, and with great shock, I looked into the chamber and saw something else that had been in my vision.

“S…s…Sis!” Tael cried out from behind the large opening at the other end of the chamber; just before the door crashed down in front of him. I gaped in astonishment, staring where the small, purple fairy had been; hadn’t this already happened? I looked to the two figures in the center of the room. A miserable looking Deku child sat on the floor, arm up slightly as if having been pushed down. A small, white fairy floated above him, staring down at him, radiating malice. As the door slammed down with a thunderous boom, the fairy seemed to come to, turning slowly as if having just awoken from a dream. Staring at where the noise that had alerted her came from, she looked to the sealed door at the end of the chamber, and what had happened became crushingly clear to her all at once. She jumped up, crying out in surprise and flew, swift as an arrow, to the door.

“Whoa! Whoa! Skull Kid, wait for me! I’m still here!!!” Tatl cried desperately, “Tael, you can’t leave without me!” she began throwing her tiny body at the door, ramming into it repeatedly. Of course, it was futile. After a rapid flurry of attempts, she stopped, hovering in front of the door in silence. Her wings drooped hopelessly in defeat. Then, abruptly, she straightened, turning on the Deku child. Despite not seeing her face behind her tiny glow, there was no doubt in my mind that she was frighteningly angry.

“You!” she shouted, icily. She flew over to the Deku child, stopping to hover just in front of his face. He had stood back up while she had been at the door, and he stared levelly at her now, as she flew toward him and began to yell, “If I hadn’t been dealing with you, I wouldn’t have gotten separated from my brother!”

As the scene played out I began to realize what this was. Wait… his fault? My jaw nearly dropped. What a horrid little fairy! It was clearly her own fault for pushing him down. The Deku child merely stared at her however, still as an oak. His gaze was pure misery, but something else hid behind his sad eyes. It was a strange sort of calm that was unseen in a child; like a man who had experienced many trials and had learned to take all things simply as they were. It was a tempered patience, and a keen, discerning eye that was hidden. I found myself admiring the boy fondly; such courage and strength. He was Link, the Hero of Time. There could be no doubt of that anymore. The fairy continued on, shrilly.

“Well, don’t just sit there Deku boy! Do something!!!” on the edge of anger was a thin waver of hysteria gripping her voice. I realized that, more than angry, she was afraid. She always hid her feelings like that…

I stiffened, feeling uneasy. That last thought had not been my own. I shook my head, assuring myself it was just a side effect of the vision.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?” Tatl continued, sounding uneasy. The boy was just staring at her, saying nothing, “What, is there something stuck on my face?” she went on heatedly, “Will you stop staring and just open that door for me?!?” she sounded afraid again; though I wasn’t sure if anyone else would have been able discern that at this point, “Please!!! C’mon, a helpless, little girl is asking you…” she went on. I almost laughed aloud. She was the farthest thing from a helpless little girl that I could imagine, “So hurry up!” she snapped, angrily. She lifted into the air and stared at the door, after her brother and Skull Kid.

“Ohhhh Tael…” she lamented softly; a stark contrast to her previous screeching, “I wonder if that child will be all right on his own?” my stomach lurched guiltily at the truth of that sentence. He was not alright, and was in more danger than any of us even if that moon did destroy everything in this world. She fluttered over to the door and waited, flitting up and down impatiently.

I finally had a moment to think; though brief. The visions from before, I now realized, were things that had not yet happened. Tael was with Skull Kid right at this moment, likely just visiting the Great Fairy, unaware of Skull Kid’s intention to destroy her. I felt horrible knowing all that was to befall him and yet having no way to stop it. With an effort, I pushed the feeling away; if I was successful here, he would be free from Skull Kid’s tyranny, and so I tried to focus on what was most important. Link, transformed into a Deku, had come to this place only moments before I had. Perhaps we were even trapped in the gate together and I was let out only a few moments after due to the strange time anomalies of the gateway. Whatever the case, he was only a few meters from me, playing out the unseen events of my vision. And, no matter what shape he had taken, he was still the Hero of Time; a fearsome fighter, courageous in every sense, intuitive and bright, and most of all, empathetic to the well-being of his fellow men. I was no match for Skull Kid… but I was wrong when I had said no one was. This child, transformed into the small creature before me, was still more than capable of saving a world; if only he believed in his strengths. And if he was willing to help me… the matter of his condition was not hard to fix; as things were, I could not do it myself, unfortunately, but if he had his Ocarina back, I could teach him how to free himself from the form that had encased him. I brightened, hope beginning to swell within me. I formed a loose plan in my mind and began to right myself; the pain of starvation and death were almost a separate entity now, barely palpable under the new-found joy I felt. With this boy here, I believed there was real hope. Fate was a miraculous thing, I mused; something so wonderful as this could only be ordained by the Goddesses themselves. Perhaps they cared for more than just the balance of our world, but of all worlds. I stood now, still shaking slightly, but not visibly. My determination had me anchored solidly in place.

After no more than a brief moment, the boy ran toward the large door after the little fairy, and I had to run after him to make sure I was not left behind. The door – a massive, dome-shaped thing, with a strange red insignia in the center that I didn’t recognize – slid open at his approach, and he ran through as Tatl slipped underneath. I ran just beside him as the door slammed close with a thud behind me. Before us was a tall, wooden hallway that curved out of sight. On either side of the hall were beautiful, green borders touching the floor. It looked like large, strange plants were growing all along the sides of the walls, some with strange red buds, and others curled with little yellow buds. I backed away to make sure Link couldn’t accidently touch me, putting my back against the wooden walls of the large hallway. I made sure to keep my distance at all times; discovery at this point was not something I particularly wanted. The boy ran off ahead, his small legs hobbling along in a rapid patter down the hall. Before following, I looked to the door and saw Tatl was hovering still, just inside of it, seeming to ponder something absent-mindedly. I followed after the boy, leaving her behind. Perhaps it would be best for the hero if she decided not to come along. Keeping just behind him, we rounded the curvature of the hallway and reached a somewhat larger chamber than the one before.

“Hey, wait for me!” a small voice cried from behind. Tatl’s bright body shot from out of the hall, rounding the corner and stopping to float directly in front of Link’s face, “Don’t leave me behind!” she exclaimed breathily. She paused, meeting Link’s quiet gaze. With a quiet sigh, I supposed leaving her behind was no longer an option.

“So, um… That stuff back there…” Tatl began tentatively, “I…um…apologize, so… So take me with you!” it sounded like more of a demand than a request. She may have had zero tact, and was more of a burden than anything else in my opinion… but she was sort of cute in a way. Tatl inched closer to Link’s face.

“You wanna know about that Skull Kid who just ran off right?” she insisted excitedly, “Well, I just so happen to have an idea of where he might be going. Take me with you and I’ll help you out. Deal? Please?” without waiting for a reply, she perked up, flying a bit higher into the air, “Good! So then it’s settled!” her voice was all self-satisfaction, “Now then, I’ll be your partner… or at least until we catch that Skull Kid…” as if remembering, she added, “My name is Tatl. So, uh, it’s nice to meet you or whatever. Now that we’ve got all that straightened out, can we stop messing around and get moving?” with a shake of my head, I immediately took it back; she was the farthest thing ever from ‘cute’, “If I figure something out, just look up and I’ll tell it to you,” she went on, “Hopefully, you’ll manage to get by without my help until then!” on that note, Tatl flew up above his head and hung there determinedly. Link shrugged helplessly and shook his head. Clearly he was going to have no say in this matter. ‘What a fairy!’ I thought. The whole thing was actually quite comical from the outside, but I did feel bad for Link, having to deal with such a… spirited, companion.

I took the momentary silence to get a better look at the chamber we had run in to. Like I had noted before, it was somewhat larger than the chamber we had been in before, but instead of having even ground like the last chamber, the hallway had let out on to a moderately sized, semi-circular ledge that overlooked the ground only a few meters below. The earth beneath my feet was soft and spongy with fresh grass, and below seemed to be just as lush. At the other end of the chamber, another semi-circular ledge at pretty much the same height stood against the opposite wall, and a heavy, wooden door leading out was on top of this. A normal sized, rectangular door, it appeared to have no doorknob or handle, and presumably opened with the same magic the massive, wooden door in the previous chamber had. All around the door was a large red insignia, like the towering of great flames. There seemed to be many strange symbols in this place. I looked up and noticed the ceiling was far out of sight, and all I could see was darkness. Link continued forward almost immediately, and I couldn’t examine the room further. Not two steps later, he stood atop another large, pink deku flower that had grown in the center of the ledge, and Tatl chimed like a bell, grabbing his attention. Link looked up as he had been instructed to.

“Hey! If I call you, look up right away!” she called out impatiently. I tried to decide just how fast he needed to be in order for her to ever be satisfied, and then I realized I was trying to imagine a world in which a fairy like this would be satisfied with anything anyone ever did but herself. I actively withheld a chuckle, “I can tell you’re not very used to your Deku Scrub body yet,” she went on, “Alright, listen up! If you spin as a Deku Scrub while standing on a Deku Flower, you can dive into it! If you wait a bit before jumping out, you’ll launch out of the flower. Just pull down while flying to descend. Did you get that?”

“Yes,” Link replied. His Deku Scrub voice was extremely high and wavery – almost like a baby – but even so, he maintained a level of calm and control that was truly admirable. This body really didn’t suit him, however. I would happily rid him of it, if only I could get back my precious mask.

“Are you sure?” Tatl asked. Without waiting, she added, “One more thing: you can spin when you’re on the ground to perform a spin attack!” then, satisfied with herself once more, she flew herself toward Link and slid herself inside his large hat. After a moment, Link attempted to spin in place, as instructed, and was suddenly plunged inside the Deku flower he stood atop. I gaped; the slightly puckered center of the flower was the only hint that anything was inside it, let alone a thing nearly it’s own size. A moment later and Link emerged from the center, launching into the air with two large, pink flowers in either hand; their petals spinning rapidly like pinwheels. Link’s expression, despite his downcast eyes, seemed to widen in shock, and what was more… muffled amusement.

All in an instant, I had to make a critical decision. While Link now had a way across to the other ledge, I did not. Surely I could run ahead and climb to the top of the other ledge from the bottom, but with his much quicker method, he might have gotten out of sight by then. With a movement quicker than the eye could catch, I reached inside the lining of my vest and pulled out a small pinch of lavender coloured powder. I threw half of the powder onto my tongue, swallowing hard, and the other half over my shoulder and onto my bag. As the little hero erupted from the Deku flower and began ascending into the air, I leapt up and grabbed his ankles, holding on for dear life.

Now high above the ground, Link did not sway or drop; in fact, his body did not react to the extra weight at all. This was because there was no extra weight. The powder I had swallowed made whatever it touched unsubstantial, save to the user. To Link, he would see and feel nothing, and if he tried to touch me himself, his hand would slip right through, as if through air. I, however, could interact with whatever I pleased, without the subject knowing I had ever been there. This particular powder had been enchanted to make it so whatever I used it on could not be interacted with by anyone but myself. A master potion maker in Hyrule had made this, and many other powders, over the course of her lifetime. This one had taken nearly her whole life to perfect, imbued with ancient magic and ingredients gathered over generations. It only took one single grain of the stuff to enchant whatever object it touched. With animals, who were complex living, breathing, beings; the powder needed to be ingested to take effect. Thankfully, though the pinnacle of her work, I had something she wanted more dearly than the powder she had slaved over, and so, she had enchanted the powder to only respond to myself in exchange for the thing she wanted. There was only a handful of the stuff, and so I tried to avoid using it when I could.

We had done a lot of business together, over the years; always seeming to have something the other wanted. If I had to think about it, she was probably one of the closest friends I had ever had. Though we never really spoke of anything profound or meaningful – I didn’t even know her name – she was the one person in Hyrule I could feel understood me, or at least, understood me more than anyone else. This was probably because she was one of the oldest living people in Hyrule. There were few in this life who came even close to my age anymore; many of my old companions living and dying as my life continued to go on without them. Link lurched forward jerkily then, and all wayward thoughts of the old hag from the potion’s shop left my mind as I clung desperately to his ankles.

Link’s tiny body began to cross the open expanse of the chamber, pivoting forward and propelling the flowers he held toward the door at the other end. The thick, pink, flower petals filled the air with a rhythmic whooshing as they spun rapidly, and I tightly gripped Link’s lanky, wooden ankles. Sweat beaded heavily down my forehead and cheeks, as the effort of holding myself up began draining me of the extremely small amount of strength I had left. Like before, through the agony and strained exertion, I pushed my body past what it was capable of with sheer willpower; I _would_ see this to the end. I felt my arms begin to shake violently, and my hands were coated in a layer of sweat that made me fear I might slip. I heard the flower petals whooshing slower, and Link started kicking the air in an attempt to keep himself aloft. With the sudden jolt, I held on as tightly as I could, but with every lurch that followed, I knew I was slipping. I looked down and realized with elation that Link had just started passing over the opposite ledge. Without waiting for him to drop, I released my grip on his legs, feeling the pit of my stomach sink uncomfortably in free-fall. My feet crumpled below me as they impacted the ground. I fell awkwardly to my side, the stone mask on my face falling to the ground with a thud. My bag slipped off my back and rolled away from me. I looked up to see Link fall to the ground, the petals of the flowers exploding away from their stems in a shower as they rained down toward the earth. He landed a meter or so ahead of me with a soft thud on his tiny feet, and managed to stay completely upright; he was so light the fall had barely affected him. I felt somewhat embarrassed, but despite the pain and fragility of my now thoroughly exerted body, I hurriedly righted myself and snatched the stone-faced mask, tossing the now useless thing in my bag, and slinging that back onto my shoulders in one, fluid motion. Link ran and approached the door, and I was no more than a step behind him as the heavy wooden door rose, allowing him to pass. As I slipped under the door with him, it slammed closed behind us with an echoed crash. I looked back, and saw thick, metal bars had slipped over the door and into the ground; barring us from going back. With a feeling of unease, I looked forward to examine the room we had entered. All at once, my heart sank to my feet, and I stifled an anguished moan.

 

End of Chapter Four, Part I


	5. Salesman II - Part II

Looking around hopelessly, there seemed to be no end to the space Link and I had entered. I looked up, and the ceiling – if there was one – was lost in a vast darkness, not unlike the last chamber. All around, I couldn’t make out the dimensions of this area; everything was lost to darkness, presumably farther than the eye could see. Link and I found ourselves on another ledge, about the size of the one we had just left, with the same lush grass and soft earth. However, this ledge dropped off into nothingness; no matter how I scanned below, there simply didn’t seem to be a bottom. A few gigantic stone pillars shot up from the darkness below and then disappeared into the darkness above. The horrible truth of this place, that which had me almost weeping aloud, were the multiple ledges shooting up from the abyss below… all with the same large, pink Deku Flowers from before directly in their center. On the ledge we stood was also the accursed flower, and I knew that if I ever wanted out of here, I would have to find the strength to somehow ride with Link again all the way to the end, without falling off and plunging into the chasm below. There were four ledges spaced out from each other within the chamber – if you could call it that – all with varying heights and sizes. To the right, off in the distance, was a fifth ledge. This had a large, round tunnel leading into the darkness, and was hopefully the end of this hell for me.

Link shuffled forward determinedly, and I followed begrudgingly. He readied himself on top of the pink Deku Flower, and spun, descending deep inside of the thing. I waited, watching closely and bending my knees in preparation. In one swift motion, he was soaring rapidly into the air, more pink flowers gripped in his hands, their petals spinning swiftly. As soon as I saw him, I leapt up and managed to grab onto his ankles once more. I began sweating almost instantly, adding a second coat to the still drying one from before, and I could feel my arms vibrating violently with strain. Once fully in the air, Link tilted forward, moving through the air toward the nearest ledge, maybe five meters away. I tried not to think about what was happening, but instead, focused on staring straight at the ledge ahead of us with only one thought; let go when we get there. In what seemed an eternity and yet no time at all, Link was beginning to pass over this ledge as he had the last, and I let go without any hesitation. I crashed to the ground, rolling to the side and landing awkwardly half on top of my bag. Once again, through impossible agony, I scrambled to my feet and watched as Link fell gracefully to the ground once more. In no time, he was readying himself at the new Deku Flower positioned in the center of this ledge, and I had no real time to catch my now ragged breath. He spun down into the flower and ascended, and I managed to jump up just in time as he went soaring back into the air. My heart leapt up as my left hand slipped for an instant, seeming to lose feeling, but I reached up and grabbed his ankle again with all the force I could muster. Once we were heading forward towards the next ledge, I realized with horror that not only was it just a few meters ahead; it was too tall for me to drop down onto. Link was barely going to make it as it was. I felt, in that moment, my will power beginning to drain from me, and all the excruciating pain of starvation, over-exertion and death began to fill my body almost past the point of sanity. I almost cried out in anguish, but bit my tongue – literally – to keep myself from being discovered. A copper tasting fluid filled my mouth. He approached the edge of the next landing and I readied myself for a leap. Once I deemed he was close enough, I swung my body forward and grabbed the ledge with limbs that screamed agonizingly in protest. My nails dug into the earth, and my legs scrambled against the side of the ledge frantically seeking a foothold. For an extremely brief moment in time, I felt I was surely going to fall and die. Everything hurt, and a part of me _wanted_ to let go. Thankfully, as I said, the moment was extremely brief. All it took was the image of that imp wearing Majora’s Mask flashing into my mind, and I remembered how far I’d come and how long I’d searched. I would do _anything_ to get that mask back. I clawed forward onto the ledge with my arms, and once my head was over the edge, I swung my legs up and over with all my might. I rolled onto the ground, and my bag slid off my back once more. I panted quietly into the air, looking back to see Link land where I lay, barely clearing the edge enough to land. He walked through my body – an odd thing to watch – and thanks to the powder, he felt and saw nothing. I turned my head lazily to watch him scurry off toward a treasure chest I hadn’t noticed sitting at the other edge of the ledge. I righted myself, my head pounding so powerfully that I felt I might wretch. Whatever energy or strength I was running on now, I really couldn’t put a name to it. Willpower didn’t even seem strong enough at this point.

Link reached inside the treasure chest and pulled out some Deku Nuts. Someone had stored those there for some reason, but whoever had was clearly long gone now. Apparently Link had the same thought, because he stored the things away somewhere on his person; though I couldn’t seem to figure out where exactly that was… His brief detour had allowed me to recover – if only just – from having to scramble up the side of the ledge, and I was – for all intents and purposes – ready to fly again. Link pattered over to the Deku Flower in the center of this new ledge, faced towards the exit, and spun into it. I waited, and then grabbed onto him as he shot into the air. He flew around a large pillar that disappeared into the darkness above and below, and landed on the next ledge just behind it. I let go the second it was possible, as Link had started kicking again as his flower petals slowed. It seemed that practice was making me better; I landed and my knees buckled somewhat from the impact, but I didn’t fall over and stayed planted on my feet. I might have been proud if it weren’t for death knocking on my door.

Link approached the new Deku Flower, and the process was repeated. We approached the new ledge and I saw that it was much farther down than the others had been. I was afraid I was going to badly injure myself from this height, but the feeling was numbed somewhat by the exhaustion pressing in on my body. Not only that, but it appeared far; based on when Link kicked, I had a rough idea of how long the flower petals on his flowers spun before slowing. I wondered if he could even make it. I put these thoughts out of my head and decided to have faith; there was no stopping now and nothing I could do if he couldn’t make it. Link began kicking as we got closer, his flower petals slowing and the whirring sound they made lowering in pitch. I held on firmly, waiting and watching as we drew closer to the new ledge. Link’s flying had slowed to a near crawl, and even though we were only a meter or so away, I didn’t believe we could make it. We did make it though, and the instant he was over the ledge, I dropped. I felt my stomach lurch in free-fall, a feeling I was unfortunately getting used to. The ground came up like a hammer and when I hit it, I fell forward, all the wind knocked out of me. In a daze, I got up on my hands and knees and was amazed to find I had no serious injuries. My feet ached, but aside from some bruises I felt forming, I was okay. I stood and Link landed just ahead of me. We stepped forward, approaching the next (‘And final!’ I thought with glee) Deku Flower. Before Link could stand on it, Tatl suddenly flew out of his hat and onto the final ledge. She was circling some sort of wooden figure or statue that I hadn’t noticed before. Her colour became bright green as she hopped up and down for attention.

“Hey you!” she called over, “C’mon! Look over here and talk to me!” Link turned his attention on the bright little fairy and waited.

“There you go! See? You can do it if you try!” she called back, somewhat condescendingly, “When I fly over to people or objects, just focus to look at them so you can talk to them. Use this method to talk to people even if they’re far away,” I wondered why she was giving him advice you might give to a newborn. I thought of Tael and realized she was probably used to babying people, “Or, if there’s no one around, you can focus to look straight ahead,” she went on matter-of-factly. It was almost funny how obvious all this ‘advice’ was, but I was too exhausted to get much enjoyment out of it.

“But enough about that for now…” she began again, “Come over to this tree and check it out!” she flew back towards Link and into his hat once more. Link, wasting no time, readied himself at the final Deku Flower, and we were both off in a flurry. The next ledge was blessedly close, and without a single kick we were flying over it and I let go and landed securely on the ground. I almost exclaimed joyfully once my feet hit the ground, but had to hold it back for fear of discovery. The last ledge had a large, hollowed out log for a tunnel leading deep into the darkness at the opposite edge, and a lone Deku Flower for anyone fool enough to go back the way we’d come was near the center. The ledge was roughly the same size as the first one, if not a tad smaller. The small tree figure Tatl had pointed out was on the left side of the ledge facing the tunnel. For some reason, it looked lonely where it stood, or at least I think it did. My senses weren’t entirely reliable at that moment. Link landed then and waddled over to examine the small tree, and Tatl poked out of Link’s hat and examined the tree closer as well.

“It’s strange,” she began sombrely, “But the way you look right now sort of looks like this tree…” I looked closer myself, and realized she was right; holes were cut in the tree’s bark that looked like downcast eyes, and a strange knot in the tree resembled Link’s Deku mouth. The tree was about the same height as Link as well. I didn’t have the emotional capacity to ponder over what this meant, so I put it out of my mind until a later date.

“It looks all dark and gloomy…” she went on, “Almost like it could start crying any second now… How sad…” she did sound sad. Looking at the tree for too long made you want to cry. Thankfully, Link pulled away from the tree and I was forced to follow. He turned and began toward the dark tunnel. I swallowed reflexively, though my throat was so dry it felt like inhaling a lump of sand. I followed after Link, attempting to feel as fearless as he looked.

Through the darkness, the tunnel led into a stone slabbed hallway paved with earth. The ceiling was a canopy of green leaves, and at the end of the hall was a square door frame leading into further darkness. I thought I might be truly losing my mind as I entered the hall, and wondered if death was closer than I had thought. The hall was twisted; coiling in a great spiral toward an exit that ended up on the ceiling if you followed the path with your eyes. Link walked through slowly, seeming disoriented. I realized this was no trick; the hall really was twisted insanely. I followed Link forward, slowly taking the path as it curved up and around. I never felt gravity pulling me anywhere but the flat of the path, and everything else appeared to spin around us, rather than us curving to the path’s whim. We reached the exit and headed through slowly. Through more darkness, intuitively, I felt things straighten out. Finally, we emerged in the next room, and I looked up into the first normal place I had seen in what felt an eternity.

We were inside a large tower, on the bottom level. Everything down here looked damp; there were large mounds of moss to either side of me, a massive cog poking out of the mound to the left. The floor was slick cobblestone, as well as the walls and ceiling. Directly ahead, only ten or so meters away, was a large water wheel attached to a stone pillar, spinning counter-clockwise. A small waterway carried a shallow stream of water from the west side of the room to the east, carried through tall, metal bars that barred one from seeing where all the water let out. The top of the stone pillar had a large, rotating, wooden shaft fixed in the center of it and disappeared into a hole in the ceiling. Everything was green with moss, including the water which seemed to be mixed with the stuff. A ramp to the left of the wheel slanted up and over the water, turning to the right and going up to the next floor, out of sight.

The water wheel was clearly powering something, but my brain simply wasn’t working well enough for me to make any guesses. I was swaying, I realized, and my body was not going to hold out much longer; invisible force spurring me on or no. I turned to Link, waiting for him to move forward so I could follow, only… he wasn’t moving. Link stood with one leg and arm in front of the other, as if in mid-step. He hadn’t crossed the doorway yet, and I was ahead of him despite never quickening my pace above his. I stared. He stared ahead, his gaze fixed on a spot in the distance, and no matter how much I stared, he didn’t move. It was if a switch in my head flipped then. The instant I knew he wasn’t moving, I ran like a mad-man to the stream, let my bag fall from my shoulders, dropped to my hands and knees on the stony floor and dunked my head in, gulping down the sour water in huge mouthfuls.

Knowing I no longer had to try to remain unseen had my animal instincts back in full force, and all I could think of was my immediate survival. After practically inhaling the whole stream, my head exploded out of the water and I gasped loudly, spluttering and coughing. The water had tasted horrible, but it didn’t seem stagnant, so I wasn’t too worried. I probably wouldn’t have worried even if it did taste stagnant; anything was better than nothing. I fell back, letting my bag slip off of my shoulders, and sprawled out on my back, breathing heavily into the air. My whole body shook and my vision swam, making the world dance above me. I lay there, waiting to feel even somewhat better, as the imminent threat of death receded for just a moment. My body was still weak, and while the water had helped, it had only done to remind me of just how hungry I was, and my stomach began growling ferociously as I absently rubbed the empty pit that had formed inside me.

After a time, I began to stir. I felt… better, in a way. The paper-thin feeling that had gripped my body before was replaced by a feeling of heaviness. It was as if all my limbs were filled with sand, and moving was a clumsy and awkward event. I no longer felt like I was slipping away, as I had. My mind began to clear, and my thoughts became sharper and better formed. With this, however, came a splitting headache that had been slightly numbed earlier, but was now a complete, explosive force in my mind that almost had me crying. I also felt horribly nauseous, a feeling that had also been somewhat numbed earlier, but now gripped my insides in an agonizing vice. I really worried I might vomit up all the water I had just drank. Though it didn’t sound better, the horrible pain was a sign that I was still alive, and in fact, might survive to complain about it another day. Though extremely painful and difficult, I lifted my torso enough to sit, and stared into the stream flowing lazily past me. Staring back at me was a tall, dishevelled man with orange hair, shaven above his ears and around his head to his neck. The hair at the top of my head hung limply over my forehead, damp with the water from the stream, and my bangs kept getting into my eyes. The outfit I wore was a one-piece purple suit, with sleeves that went to my wrists and were covered with ornate golden bangles. The pant legs went down to my shins and were hemmed neatly at the bottoms. Over this, I wore a purple, knee-length vest of a slightly darker shade. At my neck was a large, golden neck brace that encircled my upper chest and back, and sat comfortably over my shoulders. It had many ornate designs and patterns, and slats in order for it to shift while I moved. It was much lighter than it looked, though perhaps taking it off earlier might not have been a bad idea. I wore flat, purple shoes whose toes were pointed up toward the sky. These, like everything else I wore, were filthy and covered in grass stains now. My face, usually pulled into a pleasant smile, was wrought with exhaustion and a sheen of water mixed with sweat. I supposed I had a fairly plain-looking face, though my eyes were perhaps a tad beady and my teeth a tad large. My ears were pointed at the tops, same as any Hylian, and nothing else really stuck out to me as significant. Though, like most self-descriptions, this was inherently biased, and another person may have given a different account. Staring into the water below, I realized just how tired I looked. This journey was going to take more from me than any before it had. Bags had formed under my eyes, and I looked gaunt and thinner than I remembered being. Despite the heaviness in my limbs, I felt smaller, like I had shrunk and my body had pulled inward. I sighed – a mistake, as my head screamed angrily at the slightest motion – and slowly lowered myself back to the ground. I swivelled my head to see Link still stuck in mid-step, as if frozen in time. I thought I must go over and help but… really, what was I even capable of doing about it at this point? I was practically a shell of a man.

After letting my body rest for a bit more, I sat up once again, ignoring my aching head, and decided I may as well clean myself up. Whatever froze him in place could not be undone without investigating, and if I did need to investigate, I would probably need to find someone in this new world to ask. No one was going to answer the questions of someone who looked as dishevelled and manic as myself. Besides, if he unfroze anytime soon, the same applied to Link. If I wanted to convince him of anything, I needed to look at least somewhat credible. Besides that, I really just wanted to fix myself up, whatever excuse there was to support it. I hated messiness, and had always been what one might call a ‘neat-freak’. I simply admired the orderly and tidiness, that was all.

I disrobed down to my under garments, and placed them aside, taking all the items out of the inner pockets of my jacket and laying them in a pile with my jewellery. I knelt by the stream and used the water that flowed by, scooping it up in my hands, to wash my body as thoroughly as I could. The water turned grey as I rubbed it into my skin and let it scrub off the layers of dirt that clung to me. I continued scrubbing until the water would wash off clear, and then, shivering, I took my clothes one by one and dunked them into the stream, scrubbing off all the stains and dirt I could. After wringing out my clothes, and finding a relatively clean spot on the ground to lay them out, I dunked my head once more into the water. Instead of drinking, this time I ran my hands through my hair and washed all of the sweat and dirt out of it. I scrubbed my face again for good measure. Once done, I sat at the edge of the stream, my wet body shivering from the mild breeze that blew through. The exertion of cleaning myself left me feeling even heavier than before, but I hoped this would soon pass, and I waited, hugging my knees for warmth. Despite the cold, I felt worlds better. My skin tingled with its new found cleanliness, and I felt as though I had lost a pound of nothing but dirt. My clothes, laid out behind me, looked much better. Thankfully, with some real effort, I had managed to get almost all the stains out, and had all but obliterated the most visible ones. Soon I could don my clothes again, and I would feel like a new man!

After an estimated hour or so, or until I became so cold I no longer cared if they were still wet, I crawled over to where my clothes lay and put them all back on. My jewellery and other belongings were still laying in a heap off to the side, and I put everything back in its place. My clothes were still a little damp, but not so bad that I couldn’t just let them air out while I wore them. My hair had completely dried and I combed it out with my fingers so it sat neatly atop my head. Like I knew I would, I felt like a new man; a starving, exhausted, dying, man. My stomach had begun to growl so ferociously that the sound echoed off the cobblestone walls. My head was still pounding manically, every muscle in my body protested with searing pain each time I moved, and I felt as though I might wretch with every passing moment. The water had only done to prolong my time for a little longer, but now that enough time had passed, I realized death was still knocking at my door. Only now, I knew just how close to it I really was.

Swaying, I stood. My vision swirled for a moment, until it finally settled and I was able to move once more. Thanks to the rest, I was in better control of my body, and though I swayed somewhat, I was able to keep myself from shaking and stood as firmly as I was able. I decided to leave my bag where I had dropped it initially for now, and surmised that three or four hours had passed since Link and I had entered this tower. I began to feel my heart race; had Skull Kid not been subject to the same strange magic that had frozen Link, Majora had presumably gone far out of reach by now. Though I knew I could do nothing about my state, I felt foolish for taking some time to recover. That imp could be anywhere with my mask by now, and my one hope of stopping him was frozen in place no thanks to me! I turned to Link, still stuck with his foot in the air, always ready to step forward. I drew closer to him, examining his state guiltily, and wishing dearly that he would move again. All hope rested in his tiny hands.

Suddenly, Link’s body jerked forward. I started, stepping back in surprise. The foot that hung in the air began to slowly descend, as if being weighed down by some invisible force. Link’s arms moved as well, as though continuing the motion he’d meant to carry out before being frozen, only in slow, thick movements. I watched in confusion. Was he going to continue being this slow? Evidently not, for his motion gradually picked up in speed as his foot fell and he began another slow step forward. I realized in a panic that the powder I had ingested earlier would no longer work, since I had washed myself. Simple as it was, water was the way to eliminate the effects of the powder. Though a seemingly crude method to do this, it was also quite useful to be able to rid the effects of it so easily. Any liquid on hand could make you able to interact with the world again, or have others see what you see. After all, who wanted to remain incorporeal forever? I decided, since we must be close to Clock Town, if not in it already, that I would just slip the Stone Mask back on, instead of wasting more of my special powder. I walked swiftly over to where my bag lay, still by the stream, and dug inside, scooping up the Stone Mask and placing it once again over my face. I decided to put the bag back on, and carefully closed it and lifted it up onto my shoulders. It felt awkward and unbalanced, and I knew everything inside was mayhem from all the tumbling my bag had done. I sighed; it had taken me forever to organize it in the first place. I trotted back to where Link now stood, and he was looking around at an almost normal speed. I felt something strange in the back of my head then, like something snapping into place. Suddenly, the opening behind Link closed, as two large, metal doors slid in from either side, at a completely normal speed. When each half closed, a large engraving of a silver cog that took up the whole door was visible. Link looked back, also moving normally now, and pushed on the door. The thing didn’t budge, and it looked like neither of us were able to go back. Alarm flared up inside me, but I pushed it away. I would find a way back if I could, but for now, finding Majora was the most important thing. I continued to watch Link in silence, backing away somewhat so he wouldn’t bump into me, waiting for him to decide what to do. I held on to my stomach, hoping it wouldn’t give me away with any growling. Whatever had slowed him or held him in place was completely gone now, and Link turned, taking in his surroundings. Without much hesitation, he headed for the ramp leading to the upper floor. I followed after him, keeping a few meters between us, and ascended into the next area of the tower.

The area was large and square. There was nothing, save for the rotating, wooden shaft that had disappeared into the ceiling below, and shot up through this room all the way to the top of the tower. Looking up, it powered a series of massive gears and cogs that spun slowly and rhythmically. A large, wooden door sat up a small flight of stairs at the opposite end of the room.

A woman’s voice whispered to me, sweet and gentle, “Now is the time Masked One. Reveal yourself.”

I looked around, and saw no one. Over time, however, I had learned to recognize an important sign when the world gave me one, and as Link began forward toward the door, his back to me, I quickly removed the mask, placed it in my bag and stood across the room until he was almost completely up the stairs.

“You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?” I said with a slight chuckle.

Tatl jumped up in alarm at my voice, and Link turned to me with a start. Our eyes met and we gazed at each other curiously for a moment. Tatl hid behind Link’s head, poking out just enough to see me. I smiled, feeling the familiarity of my collected disposition returning to me all at once. After a short time, seeing I was no threat, Link moved closer, stopping just short of me. He stared up and waited, ever patient. I bent over to meet him as levelly as I could, and wasted no time unfolding my plan.

“I own the Happy Mask Shop,” I explained pleasantly, “I travel far and wide in search of masks… During my travels, a very important mask was stolen from me by an imp in the woods,” it was a silent victory that I made it through the last part without gritting my teeth in fury. I continued to smile however, and truthfully, I was happy. This boy could fix everything.

“So here I am, at a loss…” I went on, “And now I’ve found you. Now don’t think me rude, but I have been following you…” I straightened, placing my hand on my chin and looking the Deku child over. I paused for a moment to let the full weight of my next words sink in, “…For I know of a way to return you to your former self.”

The boys eyes flashed, and though he stood just as calmly, I knew I had entirely caught his interest. I continued, explaining further, “If you can get back the precious item that was stolen from you, I will return you to normal. In exchange…” I put out my hands pleadingly, “All I ask is that you also get back my precious mask that the imp stole from me.”

Link eyed me apprehensively, sensing something more to this. I placed my hand on my chin again, once again eyeing him appraisingly, “What?” I went on, “Is it not a simple task?” he continued to eye me suspiciously. I continued, “Why to someone like you, it should by no means be a difficult task,” I intoned these words carefully to give away no more information on what I knew than I meant to. Link eyed me even more suspiciously now, though intrigue was plain upon his face. I felt my excitement growing; this was really going to work.

“Except…” I went on slowly. I folded my hands together at my chest, finding the words to explain this properly, “The one thing is… I’m a very busy fellow… And I must leave this place in three days. How grateful I would be if you could bring it back to me before my time here is up…” Before we all died, of course. No need to tell him that now though, he would probably find this out on his own. Three days… I had almost forgotten how little time we had, “But yes… You’ll be fine,” I said, half to myself, half to Link, “I see you are young and have tremendous courage. I’m sure you’ll find it right away,” I noticed absently that my hand was at my chin again.

“Well then, I am counting on you…” I said finally. Link looked into my eyes, piercing through me searchingly. Whatever he was looking for, he either found it or gave up trying. In a moment, he turned slowly, looking back once, then he ran up the stairs, pushing the large wooden doors open and disappearing to my sight.

I stood, silently watching the door absently, and waiting for some queue. After a time, I fell hard onto my knees and wretched violently onto the floor. All at once, my vision blurred and faded, and I fell to my side, submitting gratefully to the darkness.


End file.
